


Star Wars Episode VII: The Force (Re)Awakens

by BadFeeling



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 45,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26364367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadFeeling/pseuds/BadFeeling
Summary: A brand new rewrite of Episode VII! The New Republic reigns. LUKE SKYWALKER trains the next generation of Jedi. And a dark faction of 'Loyalists' fights to destroy both and restore the Empire. LUKE, LEIA, HAN, REY and FINN return in this setup to a new trilogy.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars)
Kudos: 1
Collections: Star Wars





	1. The Derelict Destroyer

**Author's Note:**

> Like many members of the Star Wars fandom, I was thrilled when the sequel trilogy was announced, and for the most part I enjoyed The Force Awakens. I did however leave the cinema feeling just a bit empty. It wasn't the characters, the script or the overall look that was at fault (I mean, come on, that film had some serious visual flare, no pun intended JJ); honestly, those things all made Star Wars feel new and exciting again.
> 
> The plot, however, did not. I don't blame the big mouse house for going the way they did. They played it safe after the more ambitious prequels were badly received. But on a personal level I was disappointed with how Episode VII just plain REFUSED to push the story forward. What we got in Force Awakens was something very Star Wars, but stuck in orbit of the OT's plotline. We had an Empire again; we had a ragtag team of lovable heroes. We had nothing new.
> 
> So, my headcanon got firing, and earlier this year I started dreaming up my own sequel trilogy. What would happen if I got to decide where things went after credits rolled on Return of the Jedi? I started letting my mind wander down from Ep VII's opening crawl: what depths of the galaxy far, far away would we be plunged into? What would be our first glimpse of a whole new episode in the immortal saga?
> 
> So, enjoy a whole new Star Wars Sequel Trilogy! Starting with Episode VII: The Force (Re)Awakens.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this opening chapter, the stage is set for a conflict that will ripple across the galaxy far, far away.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

STAR WARS

EPISODE VII

THE FORCE AWAKENS

A NEW REPUBLIC has dawned! With the evil Empire fallen the JEDI have risen once again. Led by LUKE SKYWALKER, this new order trains in secret at the edge of the galaxy to protect its young Knights.

But evil stirs among the stars. Remnants of the old Empire, calling themselves the LOYALISTS, now plot to resurrect the dark days.

To protect the fragile peace, the New Republic’s CHANCELLOR has ordered a galaxy-wide strike to root out this menace, and eliminate it at any cost…

SCENE I: The Derelict Destroyer

From the crawl, the camera pans to the trinary star system KRYSTALIS. Three white giants blaze against the cosmos, one just peeping round the edge of a planet. We zoom to the biggest sun and see a Star Destroyer in orbit. It is adrift, badly damaged; huge sections are missing, exposing its skeleton to space.

A small starship exits hyperspace some distance away. A hangar bay opens, and thirteen figures resembling Storm Troopers jump from the ship. These are the LOYALISTS. Their suits are equipped with thrusters, and they free-fly through space towards the Destroyer in formation. Taking point is a red trooper. This is Commander SORYN MAL. To her left is a black-suited trooper: FN-2187, known as FINN.

The squadron enters the Destroyer through gaps in the hull. In places, little more than twisted girders remain, and the three suns blaze through from behind. The troopers break formation and fly to different sections of the Destroyer, where they begin stripping it for parts with laser torches, magnetic gloves etc.

As they’re working, Commander Soryn senses something. She stiffens. Her head turns slowly. We see the trinary suns reflected in her visor, and a huge starship pops out of hyperspace.

This starship is the SOVEREIGN, flagship of the NEW REPUBLIC. We cut to the bridge. Soldiers rush to take their posts, talking into earpieces. Through the forward viewscreen we can see the hulked Destroyer, and the Loyalists’ ship nearby. A senior officer – COMMANDER SUNN – shouts an order: on her mark, they are to turn the Sovereign’s cannon on the Loyalists’ ship and fire.

Back to the Loyalists’ perspective, several have now broken off from the hulk. They are speeding for their ship, when – BAM! – an energy bolt blasts from the Sovereign and annihilates their small craft. From the Destroyer, Soryn watches with clenched fists. The Loyalists regroup around her, steadying themselves in zero gravity with hand thrusters (a la Iron Man). She gives an order via headpiece:

SORYN: Hold your position. We won’t let them take us alive.

Back on the Sovereign’s bridge, Commander Sunn declares the Loyalist ship destroyed. A command chair is then seen from behind, an aged hand resting on the arm.

CHANCELLOR: Good work. They’ve got nowhere to go. Send word to the fighters to take them alive, if they can. But our priority is to eliminate that Star Destroyer. Flush them out, then turn that thing to dust.

A fight ensues in space. A fleet of X-Wing fighters exits the Sovereign and makes for the Destroyer’s shell, where Soryn and her Loyalists assume a defence formation. The X-Wings cannot manoeuvre well inside the Destroyer, while the Loyalists are skilled at evading them. It is clear the fighters are not trying to hit the Loyalists, but to drive them out into open space as per the Chancellor’s orders. The Loyalists, however, have no qualms about shooting the fighters. They use the Destroyer’s ‘terrain’ to their advantage, leading the fighters into tight spaces, trying to crash them. Some use their own energy weapons to hit weak points in the X-Wings, one Loyalist even taking out one of this generation’s versions of an R2 unit on a fighter’s hull. Soryn herself takes out at least one fighter with a single, well-aimed blast.

On the Sovereign’s bridge, the Republic soldiers report casualties. We see the Chancellor’s fingers tighten on her armrest. She did not want this to be so hard, and what little body language we see suggests distress at losing so many fighters. She changes tactics:

CHANCELLOR: Recall the fighters; those are good people out there!

SUNN: Chancellor?

CHANCELLOR: Pull them out of that fuselage. Have them tow the thing instead.

SUNN: To where?

CHANCELLOR: The sun.

We see the X-Wing pilots acknowledge the order in their earpieces, then exit the Destroyer’s shell and fire towing cables on the Destroyer. They burn their engines, and the hulk turns slowly then accelerates towards the sun. Close up on the Loyalists: we see them shielding their eyes as they are exposed to the glare. Soryn clenches a fist again inside her flight glove. Then she changes tactics too, ordering her squadron to make for the Sovereign.

On the bridge’s viewscreen, we see Loyalists leaving the Destroyer’s hull like wasps from a hive.

CHANCELLOR: Good. That flushed them out. Now have the fighters-

SOLDIER: Commander, they’re heading straight for us.

SUNN: Why? What could they-

We see the Loyalists flying for the fighters. The lead pilot initiates a broadcast.

PILOT: This is Fleet Commander Jax Ura. You have nowhere to run. Surrender now and-

Suddenly Soryn and the others activate much more powerful thrusters, which emerge from hidden panels in their suits. They speed towards the lead ship faster than the pilots are prepared for. The Loyalists break clean through the line, some taking out a couple of the fighters on their way past. Most make it to the Sovereign, though at least a couple are caught by weapon-fire from the fighters, who hit them with EMP blasts, crippling their suits’ propulsion systems rather than killing them. After all, these are the good guys.

Undeterred, Soryn’s team attach onto the Sovereign’s airlocks and start to laser their way in. On the bridge, Commander Sunn tells the Chancellor they are being boarded. Protocol now compels them to escort her to secure chambers. The Chancellor, irritated but acknowledging the danger, concedes. She is led off the bridge. At this point we have yet to see her face.

Outside, we see Soryn break in through the airlock’s outer door. Republic soldiers have formed up to defend the airlock, but Soryn blasts the inner door open before the chamber is re-pressurised, and the defenders are all blown into space. Soryn and the others enter and magnetise to the ground, as an emergency forcefield activates to seal the breach. They deactivate their boots and proceed down the corridors, weapons drawn.

The fight continues in the corridors. Several Loyalists are taken down, but Soryn and Finn especially display incredible skill. They show diversity of kill method, utilising various gadgets from their suits, and give better than they get. Their strategies differ however: Soryn is focussed, on a clear kill-path for the Chancellor’s chamber, while Finn in multiple instances defends his fellow Loyalists from blaster fire, pushing them aside as he takes down their attackers. In one lingering shot, we see a squad-mate stumble, caught in the leg by blaster fire. Finn stops to haul them up, only to have them collapse in his arms as they are shot dead from behind. Finn eliminates the attacker, takes a moment to observe the bodies filling the corridor. Then he raises his blaster and ducks down a side corridor as another wave of Republic soldiers appears, guns blazing.

Cut to the Chancellor’s perspective. In her chamber, blast doors slam down to seal off the corridor, but Soryn begins lasering her way through these too. Much as in Episode I, the Chancellor’s protectors are shocked by how easily Soryn is overcoming their defences. They suggest the Chancellor get behind them for cover. But she tells them to fall back instead. She can take care of herself.

Soryn breaks through the door. Blasters scream at her, but she dodges and returns fire, hitting each of the protectors until the Chancellor stands alone. Soryn enters the chamber through a cloud of smoke, advancing on the Chancellor. However, at this point the camera slips down the Chancellor’s arm.

We see an unlit lightsabre in her hand. This she now ignites with a bright blue blade. Soryn fires on her, but the blasts are deflected, instead hitting other Loyalists as they advance up the corridor. Soryn, undeterred, keeps firing. But one of the Chancellor’s deflected bolts strikes the blaster, which flies sparking from her hand. Soryn follows the weapon with a glance, then draws a couple of curved blades in either hand.

At this point, the camera finally shows us the Chancellor in a full-body shot. She’s standing silhouetted against a large window, showing open space and one of the suns. But now she steps into the corridor’s light, sabre brandished in defence. We see at last that the Chancellor is LEIA ORGANA.

There will be some cheesy line here:

LEIA: What do you want, Loyalist? That’s what you call yourselves, isn’t it? Well who the hell are you even loyal to? Your empire’s long dead, I saw to that myself.

Soryn’s blades are perfectly capable of contending with a lightsabre, energy crackling around them as she presses the attack. She says something like:

SORYN: The Empire’s not dead, so long as we live. And you refuse to kill us.

They fight. Soryn attacks, Leia defends only. Both are skilled, and Leia despite her age is agile and strong. Soryn is hampered by her suit, but an elite combatant. She strikes with her weapons and even throws in some other bits of tech to try and take Leia down. In one or two shots, we see a necklace around Leia’s throat, visible in the light of her sabre. Soryn sees this too, as she locks with Leia in a bind.

Eventually, Leia pushes Soryn back. She activates her thrusters as Leia deftly disables one of them with her sabre and forces her to land. Soryn then slices at Leia, the necklace is severed and falls to the ground. At this moment, with Leia stunned, another Loyalist (Finn) appears hovering at the window behind her. Soryn sees; Leia doesn’t. Finn nods to Soryn, then attaches a bomb to the window. Leia, sensing this through the Force, grabs onto a bulkhead just as the bomb goes off, shattering the window and ripping the room’s atmosphere into space.

Soryn is carried with the air rush, but she grabs onto the window’s remains to save being pulled completely from the ship. We see the necklace catch on a piece of bent deck-plate, straining to be blown out too. Soryn too sees it, and catches it as it slips and flies towards her. Then, with Leia looking on, though shielding her eyes with her free hand against the sun, Finn takes hold of Soryn and flies the two of them away. Leia makes eye contact just as an emergency bulkhead comes down to seal the room. She collapses to the floor, breathing heavily as atmosphere is restored.

After a few moments, soldiers enter. She pushes past them and returns to the bridge.

SUNN: Chancellor-

LEIA: I’m fine. There were two, two who escaped. What happened to them?

SUNN: Finding out.

She then speaks into a headpiece. Intercut with this exchange, we see Finn and Soryn flying towards a Republic X-Wing. They force open the cockpit, kill the pilot, and commandeer it away into hyperspace.

SUNN: I’m sorry, Chancellor, they got away.

Leia does not let her dismay show. Instead she looks out of the bridge window at the remaining X-Wing fighters, who have surrounded what Loyalists were left stranded in space, their suits disabled by EMPs.

LEIA: The ship’s secured?

SUNN: All Loyalists onboard are accounted for. Dead.

LEIA: Then bring in those survivors. We can question them.

As Leia says this, we see the floating Loyalists each activate a panel on their wrists. One by one, their suits self-destruct, killing them. Leia slams a hand on the window.

LEIA: Damn idiots didn’t need to do that. We’d have treated them gently enough!

SUNN: They’ve never let themselves be taken alive.

Leia’s fingers now absently go to her throat. She notices the missing necklace.

LEIA: The data chip! They have it! We need to go after them, find them.

SUNN: They’ve gone to hyperspace, Chancellor, I’m sorry.

LEIA: (addressing the bridge, shouting) Then get us back home. We need to track them down and stop them. (quietly, to only Commander Sunn) With the data on that pendant they can find the temple. They can find Luke.

We finally see a shot of Soryn and Finn in the cockpit of their stolen fighter, fleeing through hyperspace. Soryn examines the necklace in her fist and nods at Finn. Finn, piloting, removes his helmet with his free hand and stares straight ahead. His expression is haunted, as stars flash by.

END OF SCENE I


	2. The Droid Hunters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey, a young woman scratching out a hard existence in the 'ship graveyards' of the Jakku desert, takes on a rogue droid with her hunting party.

SCENE II: The Droid Hunters

From the flash of the X-Wing’s engines as it powers through hyperspace, we cut to a sun, dazzling in a blue sky. A hand cuts across and shades it. We see the hand belongs to a figure dressed lightly, in linens to protect her from the sun. She pulls a scarf from over her mouth. This figure is REY.

A series of clicking noises catches her attention. Subtitles translate the alien language to:

UNSEEN ALIEN: One sun. I junked ships on a planet once, had two.

Rey turns, and we see the speaker: an alien dressed like her, but with tentacles spilling from their cowl where a mouth would be. This is SHAKOON. Shakoon and Rey stand atop a grassy rise, mounted on horse-like creatures. The planet is JAKKU, but this version is not a pure desert setting. Instead, we see a sprawling river delta; fingers of water interspersed with green. Low trees dot the delta, and a settlement in the distance. Beyond the green, desert dunes roll, with the delta waters disappearing into nothing where they meet the sands.

REY: (responding to Shakoon, squinting her eyes against the glare) One sun’s enough.

Another two riders rein up beside Rey and Shakoon. They are dressed in the same desert survival gear. One is human: handsome but weathered, a few years older than Rey (think Chris Pine). This is DAEMON KENDO. The fourth rider is JIIT: a female Sarkhai; white-haired, pale grey skin with jagged black markings.

DAEMON: We’ve tracked this thing for hours. You sure it hasn’t run out of juice?

JIIT: We’ll still need to find it. To make sure.

Rey pulls out binoculars and scans the delta below.

REY: There.

Through the lens, we see sunlight glint off something. Rey zooms the view in on a large shape speeding across the delta.

DAEMON: So much for a quick haul.

JIIT: How far?

REY: Fourteen klicks. No, twelve. Hell, it’s heading towards the town.

JIIT: Then we’d better hurry.

They heft weapons – spears mostly, though Rey has a bow – and spur down the rise. The shot then transitions to a wide vista, the camera suspended high above and a long way in front of our party, as they charge across the delta in pursuit of the beast. As we zoom down and closer in, we see the beast is actually mechanical, huge and resembling a rhino. Far from a high-stakes situation however, the music waxes majestic as we see this incredible vista of gleaming rivulets and rolling green for miles around.

We continue to zoom until we are right alongside the chase. Two of the party – Rey and Daemon – are matching pace with the beast, which is indeed making headlong for the town. Water splashes as the hunting party crash through a rivulet, and Rey and Daemon pull their mounts level with the droid at full speed. They raise their spears to try and pin it from either side. Sparks fly as both make contact, but the armour can’t be penetrated. Grunting, and without slowing or changing course, the beast slams sideways into Daemon’s mount, causing the thing to topple and Daemon to be thrown head-over-boot into the water. Rey, still on the beast’s other side, glances to make sure he’s okay, but presses on.

The beast is nearly at the town now, and the other two hunters are well behind, so Rey falls back and swaps out her spear for a bow. Nocking and drawing, she sights along the arrow, then, closing her eyes, lets it fly. The arrow speeds alongside the creature and hits square between two plates, where they overlap at its neck. The arrow, we see, is tipped with a device that detonates an EMP inside the creature, and the thing stumbles, slows as electricity crackles over it and smoke rises, before falling and sliding to a halt just paces away from the town’s edge.

The music drops to intrigue-levels again as Rey dismounts beside the downed droid, and we get to see its complexity in a closeup. Parts of it still whir and smoke, but it is clearly ‘neutralised’. Rey waits for her friends to catch up, and we meanwhile see townspeople (a mix of human and alien) opening doors, shutters, approaching for a look at the thing.

Daemon is shaken but in good humour as the rest of the party reins up near Rey. Shakoon jostles Daemon, points out a cut on his forehead.

SHAKOON: (in subtitles) What’s this? Think a few more scars will get you taken more seriously?

DAEMON: (pushing him off) What’s he clicking at me? I swear it’s never anything polite.

Rey is circling the droid carcass. The others join her and study it. Shakoon, keeping his distance, spreads his hands and looks to the sky, tentacles clicking. Subtitles show us he is praying that ‘desert spirits’ accept the ‘soul of this slain creature’. A crowd is by this point gathering from the town. An elderly man points to the droid carcass and asks a question in an alien language.

DAEMON: (doing his best to communicate) Rogue droid. There’s a… uh… a ‘nest’ of them, out in the old wreck past those hills. (he points) Separatists built them during the Clone Wars, but not so well. Give it a few decades and… poof (he gestures blowing up). Circuits break down, sends these things mad. Only thing to do is put ‘em down.

JIIT: They were never alive. ‘Turned off’ is more like it.

The old man looks worriedly at the droid.

OLD MAN: There will be more?

Daemon nods. Meanwhile, the other hunters are ‘scrapping’ the droid, removing parts, studying them; putting some in bags and discarding others as the townspeople watch. A few children eventually start climbing on it, throwing rocks that *ding* off the metal. Rey squats by the neck to dislodge and retrieve her arrow. As she touches it however, images flash before her eyes.

It’s only for a second or two, but we see flashes of what looks like an old man, hooded, holding a green lightsabre in a mechanical hand.

The vision ends and Rey steps back from the droid.

DAEMON: You alright there?

REY: Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Lightheaded.

DAEMON: And I’m the one who got thrown back there…

Rey yanks the arrow free. Its EMP tip sparks, spent, so she snaps that off but puts the shaft back in her quiver.

REY: Let’s hope it was worth it.

The scene cuts to inside the town market. It is bustling, with humans, humanoids, and a few more ‘outlandish’ creatures. We see the buildings are all made from salvaged starship parts. Houses are built inside the stripped-out hulls of entire shuttle pods, but the metal is rusting, the windows blown out. Where the tech is most degraded, the holes are filled in with woven straw roofs, mud walls, and other local materials. Children play on a rusted gun turret, swinging on the barrel; the wing of some huge cruiser stands on its end like a sculpture in the town centre. Jiit and Shakoon are shown briefly, drinking in a bar built inside a vast, upturned exhaust funnel, with its turbine still intact and turning overhead. The market is very vibrant and colourful; awnings dyed in every hue strung up between yet more ship parts. Rey and Daemon walk through this market, weaving between alien residents, many of whom eye them and chatter curiously.

Rey approaches a vendor at a stall (we’ll say this guy is UNKAR PLUTT). She pulls out a vial of liquid fuel that she salvaged from the droid, shows Plutt, who counts out some coins in return. They don’t share a common language, so the two barter silently as Daemon keeps watch. Eventually Rey shakes her head, and Plutt snatches back the coins and goes to draw a curtain over his stall. Rey then says:

REY: Wait! I’ll accept.

They complete the trade and Rey and Daemon walk away as Rey pockets the money.

DAEMON: He short-changed you.

REY: I know. But these people need it. We’ll take the rest elsewhere though. Must be a town somewhere out here that’s better off.

We then cut (or you know, cross-wipe, since this is Star Wars) to dusk. The party is camping on the edge of the delta, near where the dunes begin. Jiit is cooking. Shakoon’s tending the mounts. Rey and Daemon sit fireside by a tent.

REY: How’s the head?

DAEMON: (raising a hipflask) Better. How about you? What really happened back there?

REY: (accepting the flask as Daemon offers it) I saw something. Someone.

DAEMON: What? In the crowd?

REY: No. In my head. Like a dream.

SHAKOON: (through subtitles) We all know there are spirits in the desert. They play tricks on your mind if you let them in.

REY: Do spirits have mechanical limbs? Carry lightsabres?

JIIT: Spirits of Jedi maybe.

REY: I felt like I knew him.

There’s silence for a while as they drink, eat.

REY: (to Daemon) Do you believe in any of it? The Jedi? The Force?

DAEMON: Do I believe one man brought the old Empire down? No. I think a lot of people risked their lives, got very lucky. Do I think there’s some force we don’t understand behind everything? Maybe. I can get on board with something up there, looking out for the galaxy.

REY: But come on. If you could do those things like in the stories, like lift rocks with your mind, what would you do?

DAEMON: Hm… Find one of those hunks of junk out in the desert, clear out the droids. Make it fly again.

REY: Fly where?

DAEMON: Off this planet, right out into space.

REY: Then what?

DAEMON: Ha! Don’t know. Not sure I’ve ever cared about seeing the Core worlds, but I reckon there’s stuff worth seeing in the Outer Rim, maybe, the Unknown Regions…

JIIT: You don’t need the Force to do that.

DAEMON: Yeah, just a few more decades scrapping rogues and we can build our own ship, right?

He gestures at the droid components piled between them, and they laugh, a little half-heartedly.

Scene cuts to later at night. The other hunters are in their tents, but Rey stays by the fire, which has died down to embers. The sky is a sea of stars, the moon bright. The music turns wistful, reminiscent of the Tatooine suns theme, as Rey lies down on a bedroll to sleep under the sky. As she does, she plays with a droid component. She moves it like a starship, and we then see, from her perspective, a shot of her hand silhouetted against the night sky, making the component ‘fly’ among the stars.

END OF SCENE II


	3. Return to Coruscant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From her altercation with the Loyalists, Leia returns to the New Republic capital with bad news...

SCENE III: Return to Coruscant

From the shot of Rey’s ‘starship’ we fade to the Sovereign exiting hyperspace. Below we see CORUSCANT, capital world of the New Republic, lit by the full glare of its sun.

The planet is thriving, and more populous than ever. In the years since we last saw it, orbital city-platforms have been added to the mass of the Ecumenopolis (had to Google that one). The Sovereign docks at one. A transport then descends from the underside via space-tether, crossing paths with another as each break through a sea of shining white cloud.

The tether connects directly to the apex of a tower surpassing all others in height – the new senatorial headquarters. We follow the transport down, down until finally its doors open on the tower’s top floor. Leia and the senior crew of the Sovereign exit onto a reception platform beneath a vast glass dome, to literal fanfare and pomp. New Republic Peacekeepers are ranked either side of a red carpet, and salute the Chancellor as she walks past. Leia bears all this with gritted teeth, a forced smile, a casual wave of the hand. But she has eyes only for the young figure running towards her.

The young man stops in front of Leia, catches himself, and stares awkwardly around him at the Peacekeepers, Leia’s entourage, the Chancellor herself. Suddenly Leia breaks into a real smile.

LEIA: Come on and hug me then. Anyone here tells, I’ll have them court-martialled.

The young man and Leia embrace warmly.

BEN: Good to see you safe, mom.

The young man is BEN SOLO. He is dashing, lean and broad-shouldered with sandy hair. He has all his father’s roguishness, and just enough of his mother’s beauty to soften it. For reference, think of Timothee Chalamet playing this role (or, at a stretch, Robert Pattinson, a pretty man who can pass for just out of his teens).

We then see a group of other delegates approaching behind Ben; more Peacekeepers, some politicians, and at their head a man in smart attire, but with shaggy grey hair and an unshaven jaw. This is of course HAN SOLO. Cracking a familiar grin, he winks at his wife, and Leia, seeing him over their son’s shoulder, smiles back.

Cut to a long hallway. Windows on either side give out onto the skylanes, aerial traffic streaming past above flowing white cloud. Leia, Han and Ben head an entourage moving at pace, arguing.

LEIA: I don’t want to hear it. People have tried to kill me for years. You think I’m going to let them now?

HAN: Well, the way I’m hearing it is that kid put up a decent fight. And where were your guards? Aren’t Chancellors supposed to have those?

LEIA: They’re dead. They died defending me, so show some respect.

HAN: Right, right. I’m sorry fellas, ladies (addressing those of the Sovereign’s crew that are following). Still, maybe you don’t need to go running into every battle yourself anymore.

LEIA: If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be leading by example, would I?

HAN: (to Ben) Kid, help me out here, would you?

BEN: He’s right, mom-

LEIA: Stay out of this if you’re going to take his side.

By this point the entourage has entered a chamber with panoramic views of the city. The entourage spreads out. A man stands near the desk in a white military uniform. He is tall, square-jawed and decked with medals. This is ADMIRAL TRYDEN. For reference, Jason Isaacs would play this part (a la Star Trek Discovery, not Lucius Malfoy).

TRYDEN: Chancellor.

LEIA: Admiral.

Tryden steps aside and Leia moves behind the desk. There is a chair, but she Force-pushes it aside with a wave and stands instead, arms braced on the desktop.

LEIA: (addressing the room) I want it noted: this mission was a success. The Star Destroyer was located and tugged into the nearest sun. The Loyalist cell got away without any Empire tech.

The assembled military and political personnel nod, exchange looks, quiet words etc.

LEIA: Now the bad news. Gentlemen, it’s clear these people are no longer just a thorn in our side. Despite our efforts they are gaining numbers, stockpiling weapons. And, to make matters worse, it looks like they’re planning to go after my brother.

This silences the room.

A SENATOR (human, we’ll call him SENATOR PACE): Master Skywalker? How’s that possible? Isn’t the temple-

TRYDEN: Chancellor, I suggest anyone without level one clearance leave at this point.

Leia, irritated, gives a vague nod and the room clears of all save a trusted few. Han, Ben, Tryden, Commander Sunn, among some nameless others gather closer around the desk.

LEIA: The Loyalists have the data chip.

Reactions follow: surprise, worry; Han rubs his jaw mouthing ‘Luke’.

TRYDEN: How did they-

LEIA: (holds her hands up, angry) I don’t know. I don’t know how this cell knew about the pendant, but their leader, the one who attacked me has it now. I don’t need to tell you what happens if they find a way to get to Luke. If they can, they’ll kill him, along with this galaxy’s only hope for a new generation of Jedi. So, we are now looking for a needle in a very large haystack. I want options.

A pause, then:

HAN: Well first of all I say we get word to Luke. Can’t we send a message-

TRYDEN: No. I’m afraid that was the Chancellor’s entire reason for encoding Ach To’s coordinates. Without that pendant, no one can get to the system.

SUNN: But surely Master Solo here…

BEN: (holding up his hand) I trained under my uncle, yes. But even I don’t know where Ach To is. The pendant’s data chip inputs the coordinates, and the ships auto-nav to and from the planet. Not even the Padawans know where they’re being taken.

HAN: Like leading someone blindfold through the woods.

A pause.

TRYDEN: I’ll assemble a task force immediately, redouble our efforts to capture one of their faction alive. We’ll question them, and find out what they plan to do with the data chip.

LEIA: Good, see that you do.

TRYDEN: With your permission, Chancellor, I’d like Master Solo to lead it.

BEN: (looking from Tryden to Leia) Me?

TRYDEN: For the first time in generations, the Republic has a Jedi. We could use his skills.

Leia mulls this over.

LEIA: And, it might just put the fear of the Force into those animals too. Ben, what do you think? Are you up to it?

Ben: (nervous, excited, not believing his luck) Yes. Yes, Chancellor, Admiral. Thank you.

LEIA: Good. Now, the data on that pendant is encrypted with codes only I know. That buys us time, but only so much. I want leads, people. Potential locations for their base. Their next target. If there are Empire ships still floating out there, I want to know about them and to get there before they do. That’s your job. Go.

Tryden salutes and exits, with everyone except Han and Ben.

BEN: Mom, I’ll get that pendant back, I promise.

Han starts to object, but Leia holds up a hand.

LEIA: Now don’t you start, Han. Ben’s older than you were when you started running around with a blaster. He’s smarter too.

BEN: Yeah, and less scruffy-looking.

HAN: Yeah? You got my mouth though. That’ll get you into more trouble than out, you know?

BEN: (grinning) We’ll see.

Ben leaves. Leia turns to the window and looks out with Han at her shoulder.

LEIA: He’ll be fine. Luke trained him well.

HAN: You know, I blame myself for telling him all about the good old days now. For exaggerating anyway. I made it sound a whole lot more fun than it actually was at times.

He embraces Leia from behind.

LEIA: I just hope Luke’s alright. If I could at least warn him, I would.

END OF SCENE III


	4. The Rings of Jaran

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FN-2187 and his commanding officer return to their faction, having stolen a relic from the New Republic that will change the course of history.

SCENE IV: The Rings of Jaran

The stolen X-Wing, piloted by Soryn and Finn, exits hyperspace near a sinister gas giant. Red and black clouds stripe the surface in an unending storm. Rings of ice encircle it. This is the planet JARAN.

As the ship flies closer, entering the rings, we see dozens of starships between the asteroids and great icy rocks. Most are Star Destroyers, ruined like in the opening scene, but as we pass by we see they’re being repaired, even upgraded, with new weaponry, hull-plating etc.

Jaran is a shipyard. The Loyalists are constructing a fleet in secret, with parts salvaged from old Empire vessels. Figures crawl over their hulls, navigating the vacuum of space in the same suits Soryn and Finn wear. Sparks fly from welding torches as they work. In one shot, a whole team pushes an enormous deflector dish through space, slotting it perfectly into a depression on a waiting Destroyer.

The X-Wing enters a hollow asteroid and approaches a starbase built halfway into the rock. From Finn’s perspective inside the cockpit, the hangar doors open and reveal a bay full of Loyalists. Finn slows the craft for entry. He exhales hard and grits his teeth.

SORYN: Is there a problem, 2187?

Finn doesn’t respond, but closes his eyes.

SORYN: Lieutenant, correct your approach-

Finn suddenly strikes the console with his fist. The cockpit goes dark and the ship lurches, throwing both he and Soryn to the side. From outside the craft we see the thing list and begin to drift.

FINN: A problem? Is that all you’ve got to say?

The cockpit is dark, but nodes and circuitry on their suits cast some light on their faces. Soryn, of course, still wears her helmet, having not been seen without it for the film thus far. Finn however is barefaced, the anger in his eyes visible.

SORYN: Take us in, 2187.

FINN: You know all their numbers like you know mine?

SORYN: (reciting) JL-2008, DN-3081, DN-31-

FINN: How about their names? They were our friends! Do you know how many died back there?

A voice is heard over the X-Wing’s comm system.

VOICE: Commander Soryn? We received your request for docking. Is there a problem?

SORYN: (to Finn) Eleven, by my count. Almost the entire squadron. Pilot us into the hangar, Lieutenant.

FINN: That doesn’t bother you.

SORYN: It bothers me they nearly got themselves captured. In the end, they followed orders. Pilot us in.

VOICE: Commander Soryn, do you need us to tractor you in?

FINN: We should never have gone after that Destroyer. It was a goldmine. There was no way the Republic was going to let us have it.

SORYN: It was worth the risk. After all, we got something better out of it. (she holds up the necklace) I won’t ask again.

Reluctantly, Finn retakes the helm, rights the craft and eases it into the hangar bay.

Loyalists salute as Finn and Soryn jump from the cockpit. Teams of them work all around, though it’s difficult to see on what. Everything has a ‘used’ look to it: tool, machine and person. Bulkheads are ‘patched together’, with substandard parts bolted on over wear and tear. On every wall is the Loyalist insignia – the old Empire’s symbol inside Jaran’s concentric rings – all in need of a repaint.

We follow Finn and Soryn into a room filled with consoles. As in the hangar, the Loyalists here are part-soldier, part-engineer. They carry tools next to their weapon holsters, ready to patch a conduit or whip a blaster out. Most are scarred from poor surgery, and all have at least a few cybernetic implants.

A tall woman conducts a briefing at the room’s centre. She is as rough and oil-stained as her subordinates, with sharp features and iron-grey hair. She is GENERAL PRYRE. For reference, think Jodie Foster or Helen Mirren. SUBCOMMANDER PHASMA stands beside her: the same tower in chrome armour we know from the films, though she’s helmetless for now.

PRYRE: (to a subordinate) …then do it. But see you work down their price. I’ll not be bullied by the Hutt.

The Loyalists around her salute roughly and disperse. Soryn and Finn approach.

PRYRE: At ease. Commander, that ship in my hangar is not the one I sent you out with. Explain.

SORYN: Consider it a fair trade. You should have it studied.

PHASMA: (scornful) I doubt we’ll get anything useful out of it. Republic weapons are too conservative. They’re still years behind what the Empire built.

SORYN: (keeping her cool) Still, take it apart. We’ve upped our game after all. Perhaps they’ve upped theirs.

Pryre looks Soryn up and down, then nods for a team to go and do it.

PRYRE: I also sent you out with a full squadron.

SORYN: They died, as they were trained to.

Finn visibly seethes at this, but it goes unseen.

PRYRE: And there’s the problem, Commander. If they’d died getting us what was in that Star Destroyer I’d be happy. Instead you brought me one Republic ship.

SORYN: And this.

She throws the necklace. Phasma immediately thrusts a hand out and the thing freezes in mid-air. Implants in her glove and temple glow and she draws it gently into her palm, then hands it to Pryre.

PRYRE: Is this what I hope it is?

SORYN: It’s encrypted. But once we break the codes it will lead us to Luke Skywalker.

Pryre’s expression doesn’t change. She places the necklace on an aged console. A panel scans it and projects a flickering image of a data stream it in the air.

PHASMA: (to Pryre) Can we know there even is a temple? Skywalker hasn’t been seen or heard from in years.

PRYRE: There’s a temple. Do you think the Republic’s satisfied just pushing us back to the Outer Rim? No. They want to wipe out what’s left of us. What better way to do that than with an army of Jedi?

Pryre keeps studying the data stream.

PRYRE: You’re sure this can be decrypted, Commander?

SORYN: Yes.

PRYRE: What will it take?

PHASMA: How about a computer the size of a moon?

SORYN: How about it? The Core on Eruda should be able to do it.

PRYRE: Eruda? (she spits on the floor) Republic planet. You’ll need one of their ships to get there undetected.

FINN: What about the X-Wing?

SORYN: We took that from under their nose; they’ll be scanning for it. We need something not on record.

Pryre snatches the necklace off the console and throws it back to Soryn.

PRYRE: Find one. Take a new team to retrieve it. Phasma, you’re going too. To make sure more of our people return this time.

Phasma smiles condescendingly at Soryn, who salutes and exits with Finn following.

FINN: So, what’s the plan?

SORYN: We raid Jakku. It’s a couple of parsecs from here; a graveyard for Alliance ships.

FINN: No Republic presence?

SORYN: The Empire made its last stand there. They took down so many Rebel vessels the New Republic didn’t want anything to do with it. It’ll be an easy haul.

FINN: You said that about the Destroyer.

Soryn turns on him, sudden and menacing.

SORYN: If you want to get off that thin ice you’re standing on-

FINN: I don’t want to lose any more friends on this one.

SORYN: You’re their Lieutenant. Make sure it doesn’t happen.

They cross the hangar again. The camera then pans to show us what the Loyalists are working on. While some are fixing up ships, many more tinker with all manner of weaponry. We see them assembling blasters, piecing their flight suits together. Some are even testing them, sparring in a training zone, firing energy weapons at experimental shields.

The Loyalists are reverse-engineering Empire tech, galvanising it to create new and deadly weapons.

An imperial-march-esque theme swells in the background, and we follow Soryn and Finn to a new ship. This one is larger than an X-Wing, sleeker and shinier than anything else in the hangar. We shall call it the STEALTH.

A trooper squad piles in. Finn and Soryn follow. The ship lifts off, exits the hangar, then jumps away into hyperspace.

END OF SCENE IV


	5. Battle on the Rebel Cruiser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Jakku hunting party encounters FN-2187, Soryn and her Loyalists, with devastating consequences.

SCENE V: Battle on the Rebel Cruiser

The scene transitions and we’re back in the Jakku desert, the proper desert now, though we see a thin band of green on the horizon, hills shimmering with the hint of water. Rey’s hunting party is making its way over a flat, sandy plain on the backs of their alien mounts. A rising wind tugs at their clothing and lifts the sand around their feet.

Jiit looks behind them through binoculars. In the distance, we see the cause of this wind: an ominous grey-brown line over the horizon.

JIIT: Dust storm’s really catching up! (she has to shout over the wind) There’s no way we’ll reach the Nest before it hits us.

SHAKOON: (in subtitles) You can’t outrun these ghosts. Better to weather them out here.

Rey signals for the binoculars, catches them and zooms in on the storm. Close up, we see how violent it is. We also see a dark shape descend from the sky, skimming the stormfront like a wave. It looks like a vessel.

REY: What in the-

There is a roar as the ship speeds straight for the party. We recognise it as the Stealth. Engines howling, it shoots overhead, low enough to tear up the sand. The party’s mounts rear, nearly throwing them.

DAEMON: Where the hell are they heading so fast?

Rey steadies her mount with one hand and follows the ship through her binoculars; sees it descending among some dunes ahead.

REY: They’re heading for the same place we are: The Nest.

Jiit spits into the sand from her mount.

JIIT: Droid poachers. Come on!

She spurs her mount and takes off in the same direction as the Stealth. Shakoon follows on her heels and Daemon exchanges a look with Rey.

DAEMON: If that ship’s heading the same place we are, why are we still heading there?

Rey spurs her own mount and follows Jiit and Shakoon.

DAEMON: Hey! (catching up, shouting) Hey! They looked well-armed! Is this the best idea?

REY: (shouting over her shoulder) There’s a fortune waiting in that place! They’re not going to steal it from us!

Cut then to the Stealth descending over what we are calling THE NEST. This is a ‘ship graveyard’, a region filled with downed Rebel and Empire ships. The Stealth puts down by a cruiser, whipping sand up with its thrusters. The cruiser is huge, clearly an Alliance vessel from the OT-era, and half-buried in the sand. It looks like it has been here a long time, but is intact. The whole thing lies on a slant. One wing is thrust up at an angle, the other buried. The raised wing is ‘propped’ on a towering dune.

Soryn leads her squadron off the Stealth and immediately stops them in their tracks. They are not alone here. All around them, the Nest crawls with droids, some inactive, others ‘prowling’. A trooper makes to aim a blaster at one but Soryn stops him.

SORYN: Hold your fire. They’re Clone-War-era. Disturb one and they’ll all turn on us.

She points up at the cruiser.

SORYN: We need this thing in space before the storm hits. (she points to two troopers) You, find the shield generator and get it online. Move out.

Behind her, Finn (wearing his helmet now, but distinctive in his black armour) signals his troops to follow, and they make for the cruiser’s open hangar.

Cut back to Rey’s party, pushing through the storm, which is catching up with them. Sand now whips at their faces and Rey struggles to see.

REY: (shouting) Where are Jiit and Shakoon?

Daemon looks around.

DAEMON: Must have fallen behind!

REY: Or they’re still ahead! Come on, we’re almost there!

They push on towards the Nest and the Rebel cruiser (FYI: we’ll call this ship the ALLIANCE from now on). Rey points out the Stealth nearby, then to the open hangar. She and Daemon dismount and run to the opening, bow and spear in hand respectively. They stop just inside the entrance, pulling down their face coverings and looking around. Sand fills the open bay, piled around multiple smaller ships, mostly decrepit X-Wing classes. Between them lie inactive droids of various shapes and sizes.

DAEMON: I… have a bad feeling about this. (yep, hold for lols; we had to get that in here somewhere)

In response, we hear a rumble from all around. The ground shudders and Rey and Daemon stumble, catching each other.

DAEMON: Oh hell. It’s not the droids they’re after, it’s the ship!

As he says this, we hear things begin to stir, not just the ship now, but the droids that start unfolding from ‘sleep’, powering up.

REY: We have to stop them!

Rey straightens, swaps her bow onto her back and takes a blaster from her hip. Together, she and Daemon move quickly across the hangar, keeping out of sight of the droids.

Cut to the troopers on the Alliance’s bridge. One by one, consoles light up; engines rumble below. The music too cranks up a notch to imply rising action.

SORYN: TL-1286, how close are we to shields?

1286: (voice only, over the comm) Almost up and running, Commander.

Soryn looks out of a window, and we see the bridge is similar to Grievous’s in Revenge of the Sith – a command centre set on a spire above the rest of the ship. We see the Alliance’s massive upraised wing, and a couple of troopers in the distance on top of it, working on the shield generator’s dish. Beyond them, the storm closes in.

Cut back belowdecks. Rey and Daemon hurry through tight corridors, where lights flicker and one or two droids lie sparking and twitching on the ground. The Loyalists have had to dispatch some after all. Reaching a ladder, we hear a thump, thump, thump on metal, and a spider-like droid leaps down into their path with a screech. Rey shoots, crippling it; Daemon deactivates the thing with a thrust from his spear’s EMP-head. He snaps the spent head off and quickly attaches another before following Rey up the ladder. All the while, the ship is beginning to shake around them.

The two burst from a hatch onto the outer hull. Not far away are the shield dish and the troopers working on it. One sees Rey and Daemon approaching and raises a blaster, but Rey has her own trained on him.

REY: Stop! Do you know what you’re doing?

1286: Back off. Leave now or I’ll fire.

DAEMON: (raising his blaster) You idiots! Raise this ship and you’ll have every inch of this desert crawling with droids!

1286: All the more reason to get off the ground.

The trooper then fires, but a huge shudder from the ship throws his aim off and he goes to a knee. The blaster bolt misses Rey by inches. A firefight breaks out between the trooper, Rey and Daemon, the three exchanging blasts whilst dodging over the ship’s wing. Narrowly missing them, 1286 ducks with his squad-mate behind the shield dish.

1286: Can’t you hurry it up?

TROOPER: (working on some wiring beneath a panel) Almost there.

1286 leaps up to fire again, but Daemon’s blaster catches him in the chest and sends him sprawling to the deck. Rey closes in and jabs her spear into his armour, deactivating it with a crackle of energy, as Daemon approaches the other trooper with his blaster locked on him.

DAEMON: Who even are you people? (shouting now over the roar of the engines) What’s your endgame here?

On the bridge, we see that Soryn has spotted the skirmish out on the wing. She signals to Finn and Phasma, who spring into action.

SORYN: Go and sort that out.

Finn and Phasma climb a ladder to the outer hull and activate their thrusters. From Rey and Daemon’s perspective, the two troopers bear down on them from above, distant but gaining rapidly. Finn has the faster suit, and fires before he even reaches them. His blaster shoots a concussive bolt that knocks Rey and Daemon to the deck. Triumphant, he hovers over them, training a gauntlet on each, built-in blasters glowing white-hot from his wrists.

FINN: Don’t move, either of you.

Phasma is closing in too. We see through her visor, zooming in on Finn.

PHASMA: (via comm) Kill them both, 2187, that’s an order.

Finn doesn’t comply straight away. We see Rey and Daemon’s wide eyes through Finn’s own, washed red by his visor’s tint. He looks down from one to the other.

PHASMA: (via comm) Do it now!

FINN: I’m sorry.

He raises his blasters, though whether it’s to fire on the two or leave them unharmed is ambiguous. In the second it takes to do that however, a blaster bolt sucker-shots him from the side. A thruster is hit, exploding, venting smoke, and Finn is hurled through the air on a crash-course with the deck. He hits it, rolls, clattering on the metal, and plunges straight over the side, gone.

Rey’s perspective shows Shakoon and Jiit sprinting over the wing from the hatch. Jiit’s blaster smokes from having hit Finn, and she rushes to help Daemon up. Rey has already sprung to her feet, spear raised. Phasma is almost above them by now, a cannon-sized blaster readied on her gauntlet, but a shot from Shakoon’s bow disables it. Phasma, enraged, lands with a crash that dents the hull between them all. From her undamaged gauntlet, a blade shoots lethal and curved, Wolverine-like.

A savage battle then plays out; four-on one, hunting party vs the subcommander, while the ship starts to dislodge itself from the ground. Despite their numbers, the party is outmatched. Phasma holds her own against the four of them with brutal swings, thrusts and parries of her melee weapon. Blaster bolts are dodged or deflected with micro-shields, and Rey and Daemon’s spears can’t touch her.

Throughout, we cut between the fight and the bridge. Soryn, overseeing both the bridge team and the fight, orders:

SORYN: This has gone on long enough. Get us in the air and tilt the damn thing.

On the wing, a trooper’s voice crackles over Phasma’s comm: the shield generator is operational. Phasma, locked blade-to-spear with Daemon and Rey – the others are now incapacitated or disarmed – responds with an uppercut that knocks Rey back, then parries Daemon and drives her blade straight through his gut. Rey’s cries are drowned out by the Alliance finally rising.

At that moment, the cruiser begins to tilt. Shakoon and Jiit cling to the hull, but as the gradient steepens they lose purchase and go spinning over the edge. Rey has just managed to throw herself over Daemon’s body, but is shaken loose too. Disengaging, Phasma’s thrusters carry her free and she makes for the bridge, while the shield trooper climbs the wing, boots and gloves magnetising to the hull, climbing to the hatch like an insect. As he passes TL-1286, he makes an effort to grab the prone trooper’s hand, but the ship tilts too far and he slides away.

Rey, Daemon and 1286 all slide from the Alliance. They land on the dune below and roll down it in a spray of sand. Above, the Alliance climbs higher, gaining speed. Sand and rust rain from its wings, its hull, as the storm itself finally hits. The rising ship, half-obscured against the sun, is swallowed completely from view, but a flash from its burners shows it powering up towards space.

From an orbital shot, the Alliance rises towards the camera, leaving the desert continent below. We see Phasma has rejoined the bridge team, and she reports to Soryn, who watches Jakku drop away from the command platform.

SORYN: FN-2187?

PHASMA: Defied a direct order, and was lost.

SORYN: Defied an order? Then he’s no loss at all.

The Stealth’s main engines burn and the ship blasts away into hyperspace.

Back down to Jakku. Caught in a valley of dunes, Rey shields Daemon’s body with hers as he writhes from his injuries. The dust storm now rages around them. What’s more, through the haze we see the shapes of droids, nodes flashing like eyes and mechanical limbs grinding the sand. Jiit and Shakoon have found their feet nearby. Both raise what weapons are left to them and stand between Rey, Daemon and the nearest droid.

JIIT: (to Rey) Go! Get him to safety! We’ll hold them off!

She’s barely heard over the storm. Sand and dust whirl around her, and a panther-like droid rushes in for the kill. Rey, hauling Daemon to his feet, half drags him away, while Shakoon fits an EMP head to an arrow. The droid charges. Its first target is the trooper that fell with them however, who is struggling to his feet, raising his fists as though to fight. The droid barrels into him, knocking him down. Clamping him in its jaws, it crushes and shakes the life from him.

That’s the last we see, as Rey now mostly carries Daemon to the nearby Stealth. The hatch is open, so she drags him up the ramp and forces it shut, just as another rabid droid smashes into the hull.

In the centre of the ship, in almost-darkness, Rey cradles Daemon, pressing her face to his and whispering to him as tears run down both their faces. All around we hear only the rush of the wind, and the terrifying thuds as droids throw themselves at the Stealth’s hull, trying to penetrate it. Rey presses them both to the ground, shielding Daemon once more. Her eyes close and we cut to black.

END OF SCENE V


	6. Burning the Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their encounter with the Loyalists, Rey's hunting party must say a difficult goodbye. FN-2187 deals with the consequences of his actions.

SCENE VI: Burning the Dead

From the cut to black, we begin to hear distant voices. Images fade in and out until we glimpse a figure silhouetted against a bright sun. His features are blurry, but he seems old, cloaked, with flowing grey hair and a beard. We see him only from the shoulders up, but he holds a green lightsabre. As the voices grow louder, more distinct, the man’s mouth forms unheard words.

He reaches out, his hand appearing mechanical, palm outstretched towards the screen. We are seeing him as through the eyes of someone smaller than him, perhaps a child. As the voices grow ever more insistent, a child’s hand reaches towards the man’s. Robotic fingers reach back gently, to clasp the smaller hand in his-

A sudden loud BANG shakes Rey awake. Her eyes shoot open. All is now silent, but shattered quickly by another bang. Rey jumps and reaches for a weapon, curling her body around Dameon, whom she has not let go.

We see the Stealth’s hatch wrenched open. Daylight cuts around two dark shapes, revealed as Jiit and Shakoon. They are badly bruised, beaten, their skin abraded by the sand. Entering, they rush over and embrace Rey, easing her away from Daemon’s body, which she is reluctant to let go of. All three then hold each other over Daemon’s body, and the camera pans slowly away.

Transition to outside. The daylight implies some hours have passed, and the party can be seen standing around a pile of debris. A body, wrapped in linen, lies nearby. The group is constructing a makeshift pyre for their friend. Music drifts through the scene, appropriately mournful.

JIIT: (quietly, as she works) Desert’s swarming with droids now. Once we’ve laid him to rest, we’ll have our work cut out.

SHAKOON: (through subtitles) Many undefended towns are nearby. Going to need our help.

JIIT: What shall we do about him?

She gestures some distance away, and we see that Finn is with them. He is unconscious, slumped, bound to a girder thrust up from the sand. His helmet is off. Rey looks at him and spits on the ground.

REY: Let him die out here. If he wakes, I’ll kill him.

SHAKOON: (subtitles) Not a good thing to do to a bound man.

REY: I don’t care. I’ll cut him loose and then do it. Let him fight me.

She watches, curious, as Shakoon wordlessly goes over to Finn, wondering what he’s doing. As Shakoon kneels by him and takes out a water skin, Rey cries out in alarm.

REY: What are you doing?!

SHAKOON: (subtitles) Water for a sick man. This desert has claimed enough blood. Maybe much more to come.

REY: (shouting) Let him die!

SHAKOON: (subtitles) To let die is as bad as murder.

An argument breaks out, Jiit having to restrain Rey as she tries to get to Shakoon and Finn. The noise brings Finn around. He looks up, blinking slowly. He starts as Rey shakes free of Jiit, then advances on him with her spear.

FINN: Hey! Woah, woah, woah, stop!

REY: Murderer!

She levels her spear at his throat.

FINN: I don’t know what you’re talking about! I didn’t-

His voice cracks and he begins to cough. Rey brings her spear back, but Shakoon and Jiit hold onto her, preventing her from running Finn through. This gives Finn time to see past them, to see Daemon’s body laid out on its pyre.

FINN: Oh. Oh, gods I didn’t know. I’m so sor-

REY: Don’t even say it. (through bared teeth) One of yours killed him. He was good! Why? Why did you do it?

FINN: It wasn’t me! It wasn’t, I swear. But I’m so, so sorry. It’s my fault. It was my people.

REY: Too right. (she spits at his feet) That’s all the water you’ll get from me. Better that you die slowly, looking at what you’ve done.

Rey’s friends continue to hold her, but gradually ease off as she grows calmer. She turns away once released and goes to stand beside Daemon again. Shakoon, glancing after her, turns back to Finn and offers him the canteen. Jiit too walks away to be with Daemon. And Finn looks helplessly on after them.

We then transition to dusk. The party have completed the pyre, atop a dune overlooking and some distance away from the Nest. Daemon’s body is now laid out on the pyre (made mostly from stacked ship-parts). Above, the sky is purple over a band of gold, fading gradually to stars.

We see the fire blaze, lit by a torch from Jiit. Embers rise to the night. Flames slowly wash around Daemon’s body and the party passes a canteen around, drinking to him. We see Shakoon performing his same arms-outstretched, palms-up ritual as over the rhino-droid, clicking through the funeral rites of his people. Subtitles show a snippet, invoking the ‘bounty of the sky spirits’, to ‘take this new spirit to the stars.’

Throughout, Finn watches still tied to his post, his face lit orange from the fire, miserable with grief and guilt.

END OF SCENE VI


	7. A Deal with the Hutt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a planet controlled by the notorious crime syndicate, Ben Solo stages a sting operation to track down the stolen data chip.

SCENE VII: A Deal with the Hutt

Embers fly from the fire of the previous scene, rising to join the stars. From here we cut to another star-scape, then down to a planet surrounded by multiple moons.

A small, one-man fighter-craft pops from hyperspace. Inside the cockpit, Ben Solo is piloting.

BEN: BB-8, signal the fleet.

On the fighter’s outer hull, a familiar orange-and-white ball swivels, popping and squealing.

BEN: (speaking over comm) This is Ben Solo, checking in.

A series of small, holographic images flickers onto the console in front of Ben, as he steers the craft towards the planet. These are Ben’s team of PEACEKEEPERS, over whom he has been given command by Admiral Tryden. The whole following conversation cuts between shots of the various pilots in their crafts.

CAL: Checking in. You’re late to the party.

The first speaker is CAL TO’RENN. He’s your typical British nerd; flat black hair, pasty. Think a young John Oliver. (by the by, I’m British, so purely poking fun at my own kind here)

BEN: Well we’re to land at different ports anyway. Enter the bar separately, in time for the deal.

X-33: Enlighten me. How exactly do YOU have connections with the Hutt?

The next speaker is X-33. She is a GYNOID, an artificial lifeform of remarkably human proportions; closer even to human-shape than the protocol variety of droid. Think of her as the next evolution in human-cyborg relations. Her build is androgynous, but her voice is distinctly more feminine than masculine. Unlike most droids, she wears clothing, in this case a trench coat and wild west hat.

BEN: My… dad has some old contacts. Very old. One of them agreed to help us set up this deal.

CAL: What are we offering?

BEN: The motherload. Something the Loyalists can’t say no to.

X-33: Ha! What, like a piece of the Death Star?

Ben hesitates, not immediately answering. BB-8 whines over the comm.

CAL: Oh. Oh, gods you CAN’T be serious.

Cut to Cal’s cockpit. He is in something more like a small freighter: rundown, rattling on a less than smooth descent course.

CAL: You mean that thing I’ve got clunking around back there is a piece of the actual motherf…forcing Death Star?!

BB-8 whistles and boops again on top of Ben’s craft.

CAL: Oh, a small piece only, thanks BB-8! Only big enough to blow up one ship. Like mine.

BEN: Relax, it’s useless, it’s a piece of junk. It was found burned up, floating around Endor.

X-33: But the Loyalists don’t know that.

CAL: So, it’s a trap then, very clever. Your idea?

BEN: Actually no, Admiral Tryden’s. With some input from Senator Ackbar. Entering the atmosphere, see you all on the surface.

We see the ships descend towards the planet, but on different trajectories. Cut then to the surface: a grim-noir, tacky-looking ‘gangster world’, rain slicking across neon signs and shady folks doing deals in dark corners. Transports in the sky suggest stretch-limos, carting crime lords to and from the entrances to swanky clubs, while the riffraff are dragged from backdoors and beaten, or thrown headlong to the streets far, far below.

Ben enters a bar: a dingey place, full of even more scum and villainy than your average dive. We see gamblers; two cyborg-types wagering pieces pulled from their actual bodies. A slug-like monstrosity (Jabba the Hutt’s species) dances on a huge podium in a vat of slime, while another Jabba-esque hulk bellows laughter, watching, banging a table with his fist.

Behind the bar, a several-armed droid built like a wrestler spits oil into a glass and ‘cleans’ it, before sliding it, frothing over with black beer, across the bar to Ben. He looks, and there’s a rusty bolt in it.

X-33 slides onto a stool next to Ben.

X-33: So, what am I to be then, your girlfriend?

Ben takes a cautious swig, after picking out the bolt.

BEN: Sure, if you want.

X-33: That sort of thing allowed here, is it?

BEN: Well, it’s a Hutt planet. Anything goes…

He puts an arm on the bar top, rests his cheek in his hand, then talks into a wrist-piece hidden in his sleeve.

BEN: Peacekeepers, check in. On your marks?

Several shots show us a number of figures around the bar, tipping their hats, drumming fingers on tankards etc.

BEN: (into the wrist-piece) Eyes on the door. When the buyer enters, watch until the credits change hands. Then we move in.

X-33 nods towards the bar droid. He/It grins a mouthful of oily, metal teeth and goes back to mixing some hideous, smoking concoction for an alien patron.

CAL: (over comm, in Ben’s ear) Nice place, this.

BEN: (into the wrist-piece) On the door. Our buyer’s entering.

A Loyalist enters. He makes no secret of himself, displaying a full Tech Trooper suit of shining white armour. He is helmeted, and looks around the bar before making for the huge, laughing slug-creature who is watching the dancer. The Loyalist slides a chair out and sits opposite the HUTT.

PEACEKEEPER: (to Ben, via the comm) Contact made.

BEN: (into the wrist-piece) The credits. Watch for the credits.

The Loyalist and the Hutt have been talking in hushed voices. The Loyalist now extracts a case from a slot in his thigh-armour and pushes it over the table to the Hutt. He keeps his hand on it however.

LOYALIST: I scanned the energy signature from orbit, but I don’t trust it. You’ll get this only when I see the thing safely aboard my ship.

The Hutt doesn’t answer, shifts uncomfortably.

BEN: (via the wrist-piece) Change of plan then. Get him to drop the name.

HUTT: (to the Loyalist, in subtitles) And what thing might that be exactly?

He all too obviously pats a fold of fat, where a ‘wire’ is concealed. Ben and the Peacekeepers all wince as the thump sounds loudly in their earpieces.

LOYALIST: Don’t play idiot with me. You know full well.

HUTT: (in subtitles) Well maybe I forgot. I need you to say it for me.

BEN: (under his breath) Damn it.

The Loyalist looks the Hutt in the eyes.

LOYLAIST: I don’t like this. I’m being played, aren’t I?

Before the Hutt can respond, the Loyalist takes out a blaster and shoots the creature square in the face, knocking him back, dead and oozing. The Loyalist then jumps up from the table with blaster raised.

Ben and the Peacekeepers spring from their positions.

PEACEKEEPER: (aiming a blaster) Don’t move, Loyalist.

The Loyalist immediately fires at the speaker, dropping them to the floor too. Another’s blaster bolt catches the Loyalist in the arm, but the blast just strikes off the surface of his armour. He ducks and rolls behind a table as the bar erupts in chaos. The bar droid takes one look around, then begins very slowly to pull pieces of a blaster rifle out from under the counter, which he proceeds methodically to assemble.

The rest of the patrons begin screaming, upsetting their own drinks, diving for cover, trying to flee into the streets. But the Loyalist is firing shot after shot, taking out multiple runners.

Ben leaps to the centre of the room, lightsabre bared (green-bladed, denoting mastery). Walking right into the shots, he whirls the blade, and deflects every one of them right back at where the Loyalist is crouching. His cover is reduced to shards.

Finally the Loyalist emerges. He swings with a blade that has shot from his gauntlet. It meets Ben’s sabre but is sliced clean off, and Ben Force-pushes the man backwards with a thrust of his palm. The Loyalist sprawls, disarmed. The Peacekeepers all surround him.

The Loyalist appears to be trying to rise, struggling up from a floor of shattered glass and twisted furniture.

X-33: (aiming a blaster built into her arm) Surrender. You’re under arrest for conspiracy.

Ben suddenly sees, or perhaps senses something is wrong. He notices the Loyalist press a button on his gauntlet, and knows the man has just activated his suit’s self-destruct.

BEN: No, don’t do it!

We hear the man’s suit powering up. Ben, on instinct, whips a blaster from his belt and shoots the man’s hip. Something crucial explodes. A circuit sparks white and the suit blows up from only the waist down. There is a horrific scream as the Loyalist is thrown backwards. Our protagonists shield their eyes.

When Ben advances on the Loyalist again, we see he is down, thoroughly stunned, and his legs are missing from the mid-thigh. Pieces of armour lie broken everywhere. The stumps of his legs spark and smoke. The Loyalist groans, lights in his suit flickering.

X-33: (to Ben) How did you know where to shoot?

BEN: Tryden had me study the schematics. That, and a bit of luck.

Ben looks at the blaster in his hand. He pulls a face, grimacing at it in homage to Obi Wan and his dislike of ‘uncivilised’ weapons. The he nods.

BEN: (to himself) Glad I listened to you after all, dad.

He holsters it. Cal, X-33 and other Peacekeepers kneel to check the body.

X-33: He’s still alive.

BEN: Then take him in.

CAL: Tryden’s going to be pleased.

Several Peacekeepers start to try and move the Loyalist, who cries out in pain as they prop him up. Ben grits his teeth at the sight of the man’s horrible injuries, his clear suffering. Then he looks to the bar droid.

BEN: Sorry about all this. Send my tab to the Republic. Chancellor’s office.

The bar droid just looks at the Peacekeepers nonchalantly; begins slowly to disassemble the just-completed rifle.

END OF SCENE VII


	8. Flight Over Jakku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If she is to leave the planet in pursuit of her goal, Rey must put aside her feelings for FN-2187, and work with him.

SCENE VIII: Flight Over Jakku

We’re back in the Jakku desert. Morning has come; the pyre is down to ashes, and Shakoon unties Finn, though he continues just to sit there, thoroughly miserable.

SHAKOON: (subtitles) Free. Make better of your life than you did before.

Finn obviously does not understand.

Rey and Jiit stand around the spent pyre. A light smoke still rises between the camera and their faces as they both stare into the ashes.

JIIT: Well, he’s untied. Won’t last long out here. You going to let the desert do it? Or…

REY: I haven’t decided.

Jiit glances over to Finn, who still has not moved.

JIIT: When you have, we’ll be at the next town. Be alright.

Shakoon and Jiit mount up and gallop off. They’re heading away from the Nest, which is now deserted, the droids having fled to wreak havoc across the desert. Rey watches them leave. Then she goes over to Finn. We see she has ample weapons with which to dispatch him. But after looking at him for a moment, she sits, cross-legged in the sand opposite him.

REY: How do you feel?

He doesn’t reply at first, and only very slowly looks her in the eyes.

FINN: Ready to die, if that’s what I deserve.

REY: How would you rather go?

FINN: Quick, if it’s alright with you. I’ll do it myself even. No need for you to-

REY: You don’t deserve that. No. I don’t think so.

Finn again does not answer. He doesn’t know what to make of this.

REY: I know you didn’t kill him. Not directly anyway.

FINN: I may as well have.

REY: Yeah. Yeah you may as well. So make up for it.

At that, she gets up and starts to walk away. Finn gets up, wincing on legs he hasn’t moved in hours, and hobbles after her.

FINN: What? How?

Rey is leading them to the Stealth, which is still nearby where the Loyalists left it.

REY: That ship yours? I reckon it still flies. And you know how to pilot it.

FINN: Yeah…

REY: Then come on.

She reaches the Stealth, with Finn trailing behind her but quickly recovering his strength.

FINN: What do you want to do?

REY: Find your people. Your friends, maybe. The one who killed Daemon, what’s her name?

FINN: Phasma… But no, you can’t be serious.

REY: Is she your friend?

FINN: Hell no.

REY: Doesn’t matter. I’m going to find her anyway, and kill her.

She climbs the boarding ramp of the Stealth and enters. Finn is left lost for words. He eventually snaps out of it and follows her up.

FINN: Wait! Look, I’m going to need to know your name.

REY: It’s Rey.

FINN: Alright, Rey. That is not something you’re going to be able to do. The Loyalists-

She snorts at the name. We see her looking around her, getting a feel for the ship’s interior, touching bulkheads etc.

FINN: -my people are all highly trained, Phasma maybe up there with the best of us. I know why you want to do it, but think about it-

Rey has reached the flight controls and is running her hands over them.

REY: How does this thing fly?

FINN: I… No, I’m not going to show you.

REY: Then I guess I’ll just keep hitting switches until-

She goes to press a large, red button.

FINN: No! Gods, no! That’ll burn the hyperdrive! You’ll fry the air to plasma all around us. You’ll kill us all!

REY: Right, so if you want to survive, you’ll have to get us airborne first.

FINN: Okay! Fine. Look, let me do it.

He sits in the pilot’s chair; takes a breath, shakes his head, then begins the start-up sequence.

FINN: It’s here, right? This button. Got to close the door first, if you want to breathe in a few minutes.

He operates the controls. Things power up and the room rumbles and shakes. Through the cockpit, we see that the Stealth is rising off the sand.

REY: Wait!

She hits the door button again, causing alarms to go off and the hatch to open with a hiss.

FINN: What the- Are you crazy!?

She jumps out and back onto the sand. We see her go to Daemon’s pyre and scoop up a handful of ash from it, sifting it into her empty water skin. Then she goes back to the ship, and accepts Finn’s hand as he hauls her back onboard.

From the inside, we then see the Stealth rising up, up and into the higher atmosphere. Rey, having never been in a moving ship before, has trouble finding her balance. She catches onto a bulkhead to keep herself steady.

REY: Things don’t… float up here?

FINN: We’re not ‘up here’ yet. We haven’t left the planet’s atmosphere. But anyway, we’ve got gravity plating for when that happens. Makes things a whole lot more comfortable.

Rey sits on a metal cot, clearly not agreeing with Finn’s assessment of comfort. She notices Finn is only occasionally hitting actual buttons; that some of the consoles flash and react to mere gestures from his hands.

REY: How do you do that? Is it… Is it the Force?

FINN: The Force? What? Oh, haha, no. No, it’s something different.

REY: Then what?

FINN: Some of it’s my suit. Some of it’s implants. Like these, see? (he points out the one in his temple) I wasn’t born with any of it, anyway. Not like a Jedi.

REY: Or a Sith.

FINN: Right.

By this point Finn has flown them right through the upper atmosphere and we see stars begin to shine through the deepening dark of the sky.

FINN: Okay, we’re here, this is space…

Rey steps tentatively to the forward window and sees stars all around them, Jakku a rolling orange parabola, vast and beautiful below. The Stealth moves slowly in orbit and an ocean slips into view. Rey points to it.

REY: What’s that?

FINN: Ocean. You’ve never seen it?

REY: Never left the planet. Never left the desert…

FINN: Well, it’s not much. A whole lot of water. Space is kind of like it, I guess. Only the stars and planets are your islands.

Rey presses a hand to the window, and the camera moves out through it, away from her, showing stars reflected in the glass (well, you know, some sort of super-toughened space-glass), stars surrounding her.

We give the two a moment. Finn indulges Rey with a full, slow circuit around the planet, though not doing anything too flashy yet. Rey is full of wonder, and for a moment seems to forget who she’s with, and what’s happened to her. We see landmasses pass by, clouds drifting, the ice of the poles. Very quickly, the Stealth crosses the line from day into night, and just as quickly the sun rises again as we meet it on the other side of the planet.

FINN: So now we’re here, where do you want to go?

REY: Wherever your people are going. We need to follow, so I can kill your… Phasma.

FINN: She is not MY Phasma. Look, I’m going to have a while to talk you out of this, so take this as a thanks for not killing me. I’ll take you where they’re going, but I’m going to need you to come around to your senses at some point.

REY: I know what I’m doing. Thanks for helping me.

A pause, then:

FINN: And I’m FN-2187, by the way. But it’s Finn, actually. My friends call me Finn.

END OF SCENE VIII


	9. Breaking the Jedi Code

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Admiral Reev Tryden summons Ben to him on Coruscant, with a task that will challenge his Jedi teachings.

SCENE IX: Breaking the Jedi Code

Transition to Coruscant. An aerial shot displays a military base: flat, imposing façade; surrounded at ground-level by blocky turrets and gun emplacements. This is a no-fly-zone for civilian ships. Instead, vehicles with the New Republic insignia crowd the skylanes. A couple of cruisers float stationary above the building’s roof. In the centre, a modular control room can just be seen.

We cut to inside. Ben Solo enters an octagonal chamber, implied by its shape to be said control room. The windows are tinted to mute the lighting, but it looks comfortably furnished, if efficient. Admiral Tryden works amid an encircling console at the centre. With gloved hands, he scrolls through image after holographic image of the ships outside, inspecting them.

He gestures Ben over. As he nears, one of several alien doctors presses a syringe into the admiral’s arm and he winces in discomfort.

TRYDEN: You’ll have to excuse my medical team. I’ve begun insisting they come to me for my annual physical; that way we can all still get a full day’s work done. They’re done now and can leave.

The team salutes and retreats. Tryden then powers down the holograms, the windows ‘untint’, lightening the room. He beckons for Ben to follow him.

TRYDEN: It seems congratulations are in order. You did quite well for your first command mission.

BEN: That means a lot to me. Thank you, Admiral.

They enter an elevator, which begins speeding them across the outside of the building, first horizontally along the roof, then plunging down the slightly inclined side to the ground far below.

TRYDEN: How do you like military life?

BEN: (smiling) I think it’s actually less rigorous than sticking to Master Skywalker’s schedule.

TRDYEN: Anything you miss?

BEN: Lots of things. The stars. I know how stupid that sounds.

TRYDEN: You’ll see far more as an enlisted man. Regrettably, your first mission isn’t over yet. The prisoner still refuses to talk.

BEN: Well they do call them ‘Loyalists’, sir.

Tryden gives the slightest of laughs.

TRYDEN: Loyalists. As if there’s anything noble in clinging to a failed cause.

BEN: Well, you would know, sir.

Ben suspects immediately he has touched a nerve, and tries to cover his tracks.

BEN: No offence intended, Admiral.

Tryden’s expression displays faint amusement, but he doesn’t answer.

BEN: I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean it like that. The intelligence you brought over was invaluable in bringing down the Empire. So I’m told.

A pause, then:

TRYDEN: Your mother’s son, I see. She met me as a traitor. I think it bothers her conscience to keep me in this office.

BEN: You defected over to our side, Admiral. That makes you a hero to most.

Tryden again gives the barest hint of a laugh in response.

The elevator plunges through the ground into a vertical shaft. When its stops, Ben and the admiral exit onto a medical ward, white and stark and filled with doctors. Straightaway we hear screams from somewhere ahead. Two Peacekeepers stand guard at a door. They salute, and admit Ben and Tryden. Inside, two doctors fight to restrain a struggling, shrieking patient, with Peacekeepers looking on, guns trained, at the edges of the room.

Ben takes a step back when he sees the patient. He is strapped to an exam table, and his injuries are beyond brutal. Not only are his legs missing and bandaged bloodily below the thigh, but his face and what we see of his body are covered in burns. Fresh wounds openly weep, and a doctor is stitching one at his forehead, against the man’s struggles.

BEN: Did you-

TRYDEN: No. Most of it was from the explosion. The rest he did to himself here. It’s why he’s restrained.

PEACEKEEPER: The man bit off his own tongue too. Either when his suit detonated, or after. It’s why we can’t get anything out of him. He even tries to hurt himself with anything you give him; pen, holo-pad.

BEN: Then you want me to…

TRYDEN: We need you to look into his mind.

BEN: Oh. No, Admiral-

TRYDEN: As I understand, you’re quite gifted at it.

Ben is visibly disturbed.

BEN: Master Skywalker trained us to share our own memories, not to probe others’.

TRYDEN: But I assume the process is the same. Ben, we need the information he has on the data chip: where they’re taking it; what they’re planning next.

BEN: I can’t, sir. I’m sorry.

At that moment, the Loyalist lets out an especially loud shriek, arching his back off the table. A doctor approaches with a syringe and injects him, turning his screams and movements sluggish.

TRDYEN: Master Solo, the man is nearly dead as it is. We don’t have much time to find out what he knows about his people. I will order you if I have to.

Ben is shaking his head, staring wide-eyed at the prisoner. The Loyalist is calmer now, but stares back at Ben. His eyes are full of hatred, almost daring the young Jedi to do it, to try and penetrate his mind.

TRYDEN: Master Solo.

BEN: Alright! Alright, I’ll do it. Just… Don’t let him suffer after this.

Tryden steps aside. The Peacekeepers keep their weapons trained on the prisoner, but the doctors relax their grip on the man as he stops fighting them, now focussed completely on Ben. Ben approaches, holds a hand close to the man’s face. His eyes close, and images begin to flash across the screen.

We see truly horrific things: scenes of war, murder, suffering; the man either has these thoughts closest to the surface of his mind, or is deliberately inflicting them on Ben, to push him out of his mind with the violence of them. Ben sees starships exploding, other troopers executing civilians, Republic soldiers. We even get glimpses of the war that was fought after the Battle of Endor; flashes of atrocities committed by both sides as they vied for peace or power in the galaxy. An Alliance starship crashes down in flames on an entire town. Soldiers in Rebel uniforms gun down waves of storm troopers as they flee.

Whether any of these are true memories, or images the Loyalist has conjured to frighten Ben is unknown, but in the final image we see Ben, in the bar as through the Loyalist’s own eyes. We see the blaster whipped out, the bolt fired towards the camera. Fire engulfs the Loyalist’s vision as he is thrown backwards, screaming.

Ben staggers back, crying out too like he has felt the man’s own pain, which he just saw himself inflict. Medical staff rush to him and he breaths heavily, doubled over on hands and knees.

DOCTOR: Master Jedi?

BEN: I… I’ll be alright.

TRYDEN: The information?

BEN: I got it. I know where they’re taking the data chip: a planet called Eruda. They’re planning to decode it, then launch a fleet to invade Ach To.

As he speaks, we hear machines indicate that the prisoner has gone into cardiac arrest. Medical staff surround the Loyalist, who is seizing on the table. He falls still and the staff back off. He is dead.

TRYDEN: Not a moment too soon. Well done, Master Solo.

Ben, picking himself up, turns and starts to leave the room.

DOCTOR: Master, do you need medical help?

He doesn’t answer, bolting away once he’s over the threshold.

END OF SCENE IX


	10. Stowaway on the Stealth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Finn journey in pursuit of his old faction, determined to exact justice. But space is vast, and they are not alone aboard their vessel...

SCENE X: Stowaway on the Stealth

Transition-wipe across the screen, as the Stealth speeds through the streaking lights of hyperspace. We cut immediately to a closeup of a glowing, humming piece of circuitry. We see the panel behind it lifted away, and Rey’s eyes squint through, catching the blue glow of the circuit.

FINN: Good rule for space travel is: don’t take anything apart you can’t put back together.

REY: I’m a quick study.

She is instantly shocked by a jolt of electricity and jerks back, shaking her hand. We see Finn shake his head at the controls, make an adjustment to their flightpath, then tip back in his seat.

FINN: You want something to eat? We’ve got… rations.

Rey closes the panel harder than she needs to.

REY: Just because you showed me space, doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten what happened.

Finn nods. He starts to turn his chair idly back and forth. Rey traces the imagined path of a cable over the bulkhead and opens another panel.

REY: Has that ever worked for you? Take a girl up in your ship and she forgives you for everything?

FINN: I do not have… the kind of time to take girls up into space.

Another pause, then:

FINN: His name was Daemon, right?

REY: Yes. Daemon.

FINN: Was he… Were you and he close?

REY: Very. He only rode with us a couple of months, but we were good friends.

Rey begins toying with some wires.

FINN: Look, so about you taking revenge for-

Rey connects some wires, and a holographic chess board (by which, of course, I mean that game that Chewbacca and R2 play on the Falcon in Episode IV) flickers to life, the pieces on it grunting, snarling and brandishing their weapons at each other.

Finn raises an eyebrow, and Rey, happy with herself, sits and starts to play the game.

REY: So where are you taking us? Where are your people going?

FINN: (sighing) It’s a planet called Eruda. It’s got an immense data core; biggest store of information anywhere in the galaxy, as far as I know. We- The Loyalists need it to decode a necklace.

REY: A necklace?

FINN: Yeah. Listen, I don’t know how much I should-

REY: No. Tell me everything. It’s the least you can do.

Rey makes one of her figures move across the board. A computerised voice complains ‘illegal move’, and the figure flickers out and reappears where it began. Finn sits down opposite her and makes a move of his own. The two play as their conversation pans out.

FINN: (breathing out) Oookay. So, what do you know about Luke Skywalker?

REY: (raising a brow) He’s a famous Jedi Knight.

FINN: The famous Jedi Knight. The last Jedi, at one time. Depending who you ask, he pretty much singlehandedly took down the Empire.

REY: No he didn’t. A lot of people were involved. It’s not fair to say one man did it.

FINN: Right. No, of course you’re right. And anyway, the Empire was too big and strong to be defeated by one man and his laser sword. It took years. Lots more people died, but eventually the Rebels beat us down to just a few factions. We’re all that’s left of the Empire.

REY: And now you’re, what, trying to bring it back?

FINN: Trying to survive. Just because we don’t want to be part of the New Republic, doesn’t mean we should be wiped out.

A pause. One of Rey’s figures ‘takes’ one of Finn’s, lifting and ‘breaking’ him across its knee, ‘Bane-and-Batman-style’.

REY: Go back to Skywalker.

FINN: Right, so after the war, Skywalker vanished. They say he went to set up a new temple, somewhere called Ach To. Somewhere no one knew about. He’s out there now training up new Jedi.

One of Finn’s pieces walks up to Rey’s and tears both arms out of its holographic sockets.

REY: And this necklace?

FINN: Aha, that’s the key to Skywalker. It’s got coordinates coded on it that lead right to his planet.

REY: Why do you want to find him? To kill him?

FINN: I… Yeah, I suppose that’s what’s going to happen.

REY: Why? Sounds like he did a lot of good in the galaxy.

FINN: (getting frustrated now) Did he? He killed a lot of people too. And what good did he do for you? For me? Seems to me like a lot of planets were doing alright under the Empire. But then the Rebels showed up and turned everywhere into a warzone! Look at my planet for example. Look at Jakku.

There’s a BOOM and the ship lurches before Rey can respond. The lights in the cockpit go out. Through the forward window we see the Stealth has been thrown out of hyperspace and is now drifting. Finn and Rey’s chess game flickers out half-finished, as all systems power down. The two look at each other in the dark.

FINN: What the… Rey, did you-

REY: I… swear, nothing I did could’ve-

FINN: Well how would you know? You’ve only just-

REY: Because I’ve been taking droids apart for-

A rattle silences them both. The cockpit is pitch black save for some nodes on the console and what little we get from the stars. There’s a clang; a buzz as of something short-circuiting. Then a sound like skittering feet.

REY: Something’s on board with us.

Finn switches on a torch beam from his wrist and begins shining it around the cockpit. Seeing nothing, he stands and moves deeper into the ship. He shoves open the rear door, leading into the ship’s midsection, and we see a cable, loose and sparking like it has been pulled from the bulkhead. Rey is at Finn’s shoulder, watching as he turns the torch beam towards the source of a scraping sound.

The small, mechanical creature chewing at the cable snaps two glowing red eyes on Rey and Finn as the torchlight catches it. Then, seeing that they’re not approaching, it goes back to chewing.

FINN: Okay. WHAT the hell is that?

REY: It’s alright, it’s just a rat droid. It must have snuck aboard on my world.

FINN: Dangerous?

REY: Only if-

At that moment, the RAT DROID starts squealing. A white electrical charge leaps from the cable to its mouthparts. The droid convulses, and a matrix of parts springs from its midsection. The thing clatters to the floor, then unfolds itself, forming quickly into a second droid identical to the first. This new droid’s eyes flash as two sinister red pinpricks. It turns, looks to Rey and Finn, and snarls.

REY: Damn it.

Both droids scuttle towards them. Rey and Finn each pull a blaster out and shoot. Rey hits one, but the other dodges and escapes into the shadows. Finn swings his wrist-torch wildly to try and find it.

FINN: So, these things self-replicate?

He swings the beam upwards, illuminating several more of the creatures. Pairs of red eyes snap on, and the things scurry out of reach of the light. John Williams does his thing, telling us we’re in for antics, and Rey and Finn both fire at the droids, hitting some but missing others that now drop from the ceiling and scurry towards them.

The two back into the cockpit and slam the door shut. The rats scratch at the door, raising welts as they throw themselves at it.

FINN: It’s okay. It’s okay. They eat metal, but it’s okay. We’ll just-

Sparks fly from somewhere beyond the cockpit window. They rush to look, and we see dozens of rat droids scuttling over the outer hull.

FINN: Oh, not good!

The droids are wreaking havoc, wrenching up panels, pulling cables out with their metal teeth. A couple begin ‘drinking’ from live wires, and new droids clatter into life.

FINN: They’re eating the ship. They’re EATING the SHIP!

REY: Yeah, they do that!

FINN: Why’d we land on a planet with rat droids?!

REY: It’s okay. You said it was okay, we’ll just-

FINN: Yeah, we’ll just vent atmosphere, flush them out. But that doesn’t help if they can survive in space!

Rey raises her blaster and makes for the back of the cockpit.

REY: Are there any spare suits? Like yours?

FINN: Yeah, but-

REY: So one of us goes out there, destroys those things, and the other…

Finn catches on.

FINN: Right. Okay, that’s crazy. But it’ll work. Okay, so first you need the endo-suit.

REY: (opening a hatch containing pieces of armour like Finn’s) The what?

Finn is already making for the door.

FINN: It’s like a jumpsuit. Get that on. It carries a charge that interfaces the armour with your peripheral nervous system.

REY: Okay…

FINN: I’ll talk you through it.

He raises his blaster, opens the rear door. Rats have massed there and he shoots as they leap for him. Then he pushes through, slamming the door shut. A few seconds later, his voice crackles over the ship’s comm system.

FINN: You there, Rey?

She has pulled out an endo-suit and is pulling it on feet first, over her boots.

REY: Yeah.

FINN: It won’t fit over your shoes.

She throws the suit down in disgust and pulls her boots off.

Cut to Finn, taking out droid after droid as he fights to the airlock. A couple attach to his suit, digging in and leaving gouges with their claws. He swipes them to the ground.

REY: (over the comm) You out yet?!

He jumps into the airlock, seals the inner door, then opens the outer with a hiss. His thrusters burn and take him into space, where he hovers to look at the damage to the hull. There are rat droids everywhere.

FINN: Yeah. You… got it the right way round?

Cut back to Rey, halfway into the suit.

REY: Yes! Why?

FINN: (over the comm) Just saying, easy mistake! Opening goes at the back…

Rey tears the suit off again, as rats begin thumping at the door, louder and in greater numbers.

Outside, Finn is manoeuvring around the hull, taking careful aim at rats, wary of damaging the ship.

FINN: (to himself) Rat droids. Who even invented these things?

REY: (over the comm, hearing this) Separatists. During the Clone Wars.

FINN: And they didn’t call them the Droid Wars, why?

In the cockpit, Rey is finally suited up. She starts taking pieces of armour from a locker. As she does, the forward console sparks. A droid leaps from a hole it has made, followed by more. They swarm over the floor with some making for Rey. She grunts in disgust and takes out a few with her blaster.

REY: They’re in here with me now! I’ve got the suit on!

FINN: (via comm) Now the armour. Piece by piece. It’s easy.

Back to Finn. He has magnetised to the hull now. The rats are dodging his blaster bolts and he is ripping them off one at a time with his hands. One launches itself straight at his helmet and he slices it clean in two with his arm blade. He skewers another that’s crawled up his leg, but another latches onto his thruster pack and bites down. The thruster, newly patched up from the hit it took on Jakku, vents plasma through fresh holes in the alloy. The force of it pushes the creature away, but the thruster is unusable.

FINN: My thruster’s out! That’s it though. That’s the last of them out here!

Cut back to Rey. She has the full suit on except the helmet. Droids are now swarming the inside of the ship. The sound of them multiplying is deafening, and John Williams is having a field day with drums and high-stakes brass. Rey is now laying waste to them with her spear.

REY: That’s NOT all of them in here!

FINN: (via comm) Do you have the suit on?

Rey at last puts on the helmet and the suit seals, filling with artificial atmosphere.

REY: Yes!

Back to Finn, clinging to the hull. He has crawled to the outside of the cockpit and can see Rey inside, fending off swarms of the droids.

FINN: Okay. Vent atmos. using the-

He cuts off when he sees a sparking, burnt-out panel on the piloting console.

REY: (via comm) Don’t tell me. They chewed through the circuit.

FINN: Uh… Yeah. But it’s okay. I’ll do it remotely. Just… hang on.

He begins typing a code into a panel on his gauntlet.

In the cockpit, Rey pins a rat with her spear. Dozens more climb the walls, the ceiling, making for her.

REY: Okay, hanging on. Be fast.

Back to Finn, keying in the final code.

REY: (via comm) Wait, hang on literally?

Finn palms the wrist panel, and every airlock in the ship opens. The ship decompresses explosively, blasting all its atmosphere at once into space. Rey, not hanging onto anything, is carried with it, smashing against the airlock’s inner edge before spinning out into open space too. We see a shot from her perspective, hear her heavy breathing as stars tumble around her.

FINN: Oh!

Through Finn’s eyes, we see Rey carried from the ship with a cloud of rats, squirming in the vacuum. The cloud disperses quickly, but Rey is still spinning, stranded and without thrusters. We see her face, eyes wide, up-lit by the helmet’s internal lights. She is breathing hard, panicking with nothing but the suit between her and vacuum. All sound fades out, leaving only Rey’s breathing.

In silence, we see a cable shoot from Finn’s hand, but it’s a near miss and sails past her, out of reach. However, as Rey reaches for it her eyes close. The cable trembles and moves to her, and she seizes it, the force of her spin yanking at her shoulder as her momentum halts. But she hangs on.

She begins pulling herself, hand-over-hand back to where the cable shot from Finn’s outstretched glove. He helps bring her in the final few feet, and gently activates a button on her gauntlet that magnetises her to the hull beside him.

The two, breathless, share a moment of elation. Then they break into laughter, falling back on the hull as stars drift overhead.

FINN: I thought I’d missed.

REY: You did… (catching her breath) You’re a… lousy shot…

FINN: Then how…

REY: I don’t know… (still breathless) I… wanted to catch it… and I caught it…

A pause, then:

REY: Oh my gods, if anyone had told me… (still catching her breath) …had told me… that I’d be… watching the stars from the outside… of a ship… drifting in space…

FINN: I know. I know right? Pretty… pretty impressive.

They wait while the ship seals and re-pressurises. The two then spot one of several items floating in space, having been ejected from the Stealth with the atmosphere. One of them is Rey’s drinking canteen, and we see something like a fine, sparkling powder spill from it. It trails like the wake of a comet, then disperses in a cloud, and Finn realises with dismay what it is.

FINN: Oh, hell, is that…?

REY: Yes. Yeah, those are his ashes.

FINN: Oh, Rey, we can… We can try to-

REY: No. Don’t. He got what he wanted.

The scene ends with the two of them just watching, lying back on the ship’s hull (as best they can in zero gravity, attached by hands and feet), as Daemon’s ashes are spread among the stars.

END OF SCENE X


	11. Crisis of Conscience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben's actions lead him to question his ability to be a true Jedi Knight.

SCENE XI: Crisis of Conscience

We transition to a shot in space above Coruscant. One of the orbital city-platforms drifts, majestic, overlooking the rising sun as it breaks around the capital-planet’s edge.

Cut to Ben Solo. He is in a bar; a nice one, and quietish. He sits staring across the counter through a wall-sized window, at the stars still hanging over Coruscant, a glass clasped in both hands that he doesn’t seem to have drunk from.

HAN: You know, if you stare at them long enough they take offence.

Han has entered behind him, and Ben snaps out of his reverie. Han sits on a stool beside his son.

HAN: What’s up, kid?

BEN: It’s nothing. I’m fine.

HAN: Come on, this is your dad.

Ben doesn’t answer straight away; just looks down at the drink in his hands, still without drinking it.

BEN: I went against my training today.

HAN: Uh-huh.

BEN: And… I’m not sure I was ready to become a full Jedi yet.

Han raises his eyebrows at that, exhales like he wasn’t prepared for a ‘big conversation’, and moves his stool closer to Ben’s.

HAN: Wow. Okay, look, unless Luke’s gone completely senile in his old age, and god help me if that’s the case, he wouldn’t have let a student out of his sight he thought could do more harm in the galaxy than good.

Ben smiles a little at that, but quickly frowns again.

BEN: It’s not just today. I felt anger, when I heard what happened to mom. And on the Hutt planet, I wanted to hurt that Loyalist for it.

HAN: You had to do it. If you hadn’t shot first he’d have blown up the whole bar.

BEN: Well, what I did today was by choice.

Han doesn’t know where to go from there. He takes a long look at his son, puts a hand on his shoulder.

HAN: You know, you were born in a warzone. You know that right? Your mother, your uncle and me, it was just after Endor; we were fighting some remnant of the Empire. And your mother was the size of a starship, but when did something like that ever stop her? Anyway, along you came in the middle of all this fighting. All this death, anger. You came out good, surrounded by all of it.

BEN: Well I’m grown up now. I’ve done things since then-

HAN: Yeah, and that’s life, Ben. Between you and me, even your uncle was no monk all the time. He did bad things when he had to. We all did. What’s important is how you make up for them.

Ben perks at that. He takes a sip from his drink at last.

BEN: Were you ever disappointed I took after Uncle Luke…

HAN: Instead of me? Are you kidding? First time you picked up your mother’s lightsabre I was over the moon! Did it break my heart a little that that meant you had to go off and train with Luke? Sure. But I was proud.

Ben smiles fully at his father now, and Han grins back at him. At that moment, a droid walks over to them behind the bar. It is gold-plated, humanoid.

C-3PO: So, what shall it be, Masters Solo?

HAN: (giving 3PO the stare) 3PO! Can you give us a moment here?

3PO jerkily holds up both arms as though to say ‘If I’ve offended you…’. Meanwhile Ben’s wrist-piece flashes and he checks a panel.

BEN: It’s alright, dad. My fleet’s ready now anyway. Thanks for this.

He downs his drink and gets up to leave.

BEN: Why don’t you two reminisce about old times.

He leaves the bar with a grin at his father.

HAN: (to himself) They’re not that old.

3PO just stands there, staring at Han.

HAN: (to 3PO) They’re not!

C-3PO: They are, sir. By my reckoning, it’s been eleven-thousand, five-hundred-and-sixty-six Republic cycles since-

HAN: 3PO, never tell me the numbers.

Cut to the city’s space-port, where Ben’s one-man fighter is taking off. He flies confidently, aiming for a large New Republic starship in orbit. This ship is THE SENTINEL. On his console, holographic images of his Peacekeeping squad flash up.

BEN: This is Commander Solo, checking in. Ready to launch?

CAL: Checking in. Ready.

X-33: Ready, checking in.

BEN: Then let’s go. Set course for Eruda.

Ben’s fighter docks with the larger ship, attaching to its outer hull like a manta ray on the body of a whale. The fighters of the other Peacekeepers also attach like this, and we see that the larger ship is more a carrier; a large engine built to power through hyperspace, with the smaller ships able to break off for short-distance speed and manoeuvrability.

Once the Sentinel is complete, all fighters attached, it powers its hyperdrive and is gone in a burst of light.

END OF SCENE XI


	12. The Veiled Face of Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In orbit over Eruda, the only place in the galaxy capable of decrypting the coordinates to Luke's Jedi temple, the Loyalists plan their assault on the planet's famed data core. And a sinister figure has a message for Soryn.

SCENE XII: The Veiled Face of Evil

Orbital shot over the planet ERUDA. It is a temperate world; Earth-like, its green and yellow landmasses concentrated in one supercontinent that spreads from pole to pole. Just above the equator, an enormous dome can be seen from space. This is the Erudan CORE.

The Alliance’s prow slips across the shot, obscuring the other orbital traffic. Inside we see a council table set up in a long, dark room, windows along one side giving onto the stars. Holograms occupy every seat, save for the centre where Commander Soryn sits. General Pryre’s image presides at the table’s head.

PHASMA: (as a hologram) My team is at the surface now, General, and about to infiltrate the Erudan Core.

PRYRE: Good. How long then to decode the data chip?

PHASMA: Once we begin decryption, no more than an hour.

PRYRE: Then report to me again once it’s done. Good luck.

Phasma salutes and her hologram vanishes. An alien in a military uniform then speaks. We shall call him ADMIRAL CARSUS.

CARSUS: Meanwhile, our fleets at Jaran are almost ready, General. Once we receive the coordinates, we can begin our assault on Ach To.

PRYRE: Then it seems all is in order. Unless the Commander has anything else to report?

Soryn looks up.

SORYN: No, General.

PRYRE: Really? Not even the loss of Lieutenant FN-2187?

Soryn sits back in her chair. Her flight-gloved fingers drum the table.

SORYN: He committed insubordination. He was then either killed or left stranded on the planet, I don’t see his relevance.

CARSUS: And what about the girl?

Soryn turns sharply to the admiral.

SORYN: What girl?

CARSUS: The native that Subcommander Phasma reported fighting on Jakku. She said she saw signs of, I quote, ‘a vagrant Force-user’.

Soryn appears to consider her words.

SORYN: She was a skilled combatant, nothing more. I detected nothing unusual myself.

PRYRE: Still, best to tie up loose ends. I want a team sent to Jakku after this to confirm the girl’s identity, and the fate of 2187. In the meantime, Commander, I trust you will stay on alert for-

As she speaks, Pryre’s voice distorts. All around the table, the holographic officers blur and stutter out, one after the other. The room is plunged into deeper darkness, now lit only by what light reflects from Eruda’s moons, as seen through the windows.

The score becomes quiet, and layered with threat. Soryn remains motionless in her chair, arms braced against the table. As the camera slides slowly around and behind her, we see a shadowed figure now stands across the table, gazing out at the moons. It was not there before.

FIGURE: How long were you planning to conceal this, Soryn?

SORYN: Until I was certain.

FIGURE: And now? Do you suspect as I do? An awakening?

A pause, then:

SORYN: Yes.

FIGURE: Then it is as we predicted. Our actions have sent ripples through the living Force. This puts pressure on your mission.

SORYN: I’m ready for what’s to come.

The figure turns, still no more than a shadow against the stars. Its outline though is blurred, ill-defined. We see however that they are tall, slender, with arms folded across their chest.

FIGURE: Do not be overconfident. This girl’s appearance proves our enemies’ strength now grows alongside your own. Some may already be a match for you.

SORYN: Skywalker is no match, nor his apprentices. They don’t know the truth about the Force like I do. They fear it. I will exterminate them for their ignorance.

FIGURE: You will…

The figure proceeds forward slowly and we see them pass through the table itself, until they stand beside Soryn in her chair. Their footsteps make no noise.

FIGURE: …or you will be destroyed. Perhaps then another will take your place, and add their power to mine.

Soryn is still, unresponsive as the figure leans in close from behind. Its face, what little we see of it, moves within an inch of Soryn’s helmet and it whispers:

FIGURE: She is there, isn’t she. She has followed you to the planet. You’ve felt it.

SORYN: What do you wish of her?

FIGURE: She may be useful in bringing us what we desire. I will ensure she comes of her own accord.

The figure straightens. Behind Soryn, we see a doorway give onto a corridor, a pale white light at the end of it. The figure proceeds towards this, very slowly, its shape still a blur against the light and growing still less distinct as it departs.

FIGURE: Let us hope the Force is with you, Soryn.

We see its departure through Soryn’s eyes, through the tint of her visor. After a moment, she disengages said visor, and as it lifts from over her vision, the figure disappears altogether, moments before it should have vanished into the light.

The council room is brighter again, the holograms all back in place as though they never cut out. Their conversation even continues from before. They did not see or hear what just passed.

PRYRE: Commander, did you hear what I said to you?

Soryn’s face is still mostly obscured by her helmet, but her eyes are revealed without her visor.

SORYN: Apologies, General, my visor was interfering with your transmission.

PRYRE: Then I repeat. Be on alert for a Republic incursion. They shouldn’t have followed you here, but better not to be complacent.

SORYN: Yes, General.

The council then ends transmission, and all holograms cut out for real this time. Soryn stands and marches from the table.

SORYN: (speaking into her wrist-piece) This is Commander Soryn. Muster a squadron and prepare to deploy fighters from the hangar.

TROOPER: (unseen, via comm) Commander?

SORYN: Do it. It seems we’ve been followed from Jakku.

END OF SCENE XII


	13. Infiltrating the Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Finn must go undercover to infiltrate the Erudan Core and confront Phasma.

SCENE XIII: Infiltrating the Core

We see the Stealth touch down on the surface of Eruda, on a plaza crowded with other ships and aliens coming to and from them. In the cockpit, Finn switches everything off and the ship powers down. An Erudan cityscape stretches before them through the forward window, the domed Core in the distance, wide as the horizon.

FINN: Well, that’s it. That’s the Core.

REY: Your people are in there then? Not up on that cruiser in space?

FINN: Phasma will be, yeah. It’ll be her job to breach the Core, with about twelve others in her squadron. Rey…

Rey is unfastening a crash belt, rising from her seat.

REY: Then let’s go.

FINN: Rey, wait.

She checks her blaster, then re-holsters it and covers it with a flap of her clothing.

REY: Are you coming?

FINN: No, Rey…

REY: Then stay here.

She makes for the hatch, goes for the unlock panel.

FINN: Rey!

Suddenly Finn has slammed himself between her and the doors. She stares him right in the eyes.

REY: Get out of my way.

FINN: No.

REY: (louder) Get OUT-

FINN: Rey, listen!

He makes as though to grab her by the arms, but stops himself at the last moment, clutching instead at the empty air around her. She continues to stare him down.

FINN: (more quietly) Look, it was one thing when I had a couple of thousand parsecs to change your mind-

REY: But now what? Are you going to stop me?

FINN: If I have to-

REY: Are we going to fight again? Like on Jakku? Fine by me. Only this time leave the blasters out of it. Let’s see you hold up in a fair fight.

FINN: Oh my god, Rey, I am not going to-

REY: You know, maybe you should have done it. You would’ve done, wouldn’t you? You would’ve shot me and Daemon back there!

FINN: Look, I-

REY: And it would have been easier! Shoot me back then and you could’ve been over there now, going out of your way to try and kill an old man and a bunch of children.

FINN: GOD! Rey. I don’t even- I don’t…

REY: Let me past.

FINN: Please…

REY: Do you agree with them?

FINN: I don’t kn-

REY: You think they’re doing the right thing? Killing people so they can carve out a little corner of the galaxy for themselves? Do you?

FINN: I-

She pushes right past him now and he doesn’t try to stop her.

FINN: Rey…

She is at the hatch, but whips back around on him.

REY: Because if you have to think about it! If it’s taken even this long-

Finn has no more words at this point. He has fallen back, slumped against the bulkhead, in the same position as when he was tied to the girder in the desert, watching Rey’s party burn their friend. She looks down at him, not with pity, but the rage inside has become something quieter now, giving her clarity.

REY: But no. All that time. All that time you said you were convincing me, trying to stop me going after your friends… It wasn’t me you were trying to convince at all, was it.

FINN: I don’t know.

REY: Yeah. That’s it, isn’t it. At least, I hope to hell I’m right. Because if you try and stop me now, for any other reason than because you think I’m going to get myself killed-

FINN: No. No, Rey, I’m not.

REY: Not what?

FINN: I’m not going to… try and stop you.

She stares at him for one moment longer, then:

REY: (quietly) Good.

With that, she begins to open the hatch. Over the hiss of escaping air, Finn gets up, unsteady on his feet.

FINN: Wait!

She is already halfway down the boarding ramp, but she stops now.

FINN: Rey, I’m also not going to let you get yourself killed.

She turns to him slowly.

REY: Good. Because I have no idea what I’m doing.

At that, she turns up one corner of her mouth in the slightest of smiles. He returns the gesture, tentatively.

We now transition-wipe to some establishing shots. Eruda is a planet of learning; a world-sized university campus mixed with Silicon Valley. Bronzed stone library buildings overlook tiered gardens; trees are intershot with elaborate metal sculptures. All around, alumni lounge in the sun reading, or bustle with data-pads underarm. There are alien solar-sail yachts on the lake. An observatory turns slowly, examining the face of a moon hanging massive and half-visible in the sky, an inverse of the Core.

Finn and Rey make for the Core. She is in her desert clothes again, while he has changed out of his Loyalist exo-suit. Gloves cover the implants in his palms and a hood is pulled over his temple node. They blend with the populace, but still attract looks.

REY: I feel like we’re being stared at.

FINN: Yeah, don’t take it personally. Actually, it is personal but not in the way you think. Erudans don’t have a high opinion of humans.

REY: Think that has anything to do with the Empire?

FINN: Yeah, I wouldn’t mention it too loudly around here, unless you want to be on the tentacle end of a debate.

On cue, a tentacled alien eyes them in passing.

REY: If that’s true, how are we going to get into the Core?

FINN: The same way Phasma will have done. Legitimately.

They enter a library building, and Finn slows them to a stroll as he scans the vestibule. It’s full of students, and droids. The latter fly to and from ‘bookshelves’, removing data chips, then bringing them down for students to study at any of several hundred consoles.

FINN: Don’t be surprised. The Core’s not heavily guarded. At least not the outer Core. But once we’re inside that, the inner one shouldn’t be a problem either. All we need is…

We see through his eyes. To the back of the hall, archways open onto tunnels that lead deep into the Core. They are guarded by WARDENS, but a robed alien now approaches one and presents a metallic card for inspection.

FINN: Got it.

Finn’s enhanced eyes zoom in and scan the alien’s card. He then puts a hand behind his back so that only Rey can see. The emitter in his palm projects a holographic replica of the card, and his fingers close convincingly around it.

REY: Nice.

Finn leads them to a tunnel entrance.

FINN: (to a Warden) I need access to the Core, please.

WARDEN: (looking him over with suspicion) Reason?

FINN: I’m a research assistant to professor Yavin Foor.

The Warden raises what passes in its alien physiognomy for an eyebrow, as Rey winces.

FINN: …I know, what are the chances, right? Anyway, I have an organic sample she needs scanning.

WARDEN: Of what nature?

FINN: A sensitive one.

The Warden raises its other ‘eyebrow’. As does Rey.

FINN: A classified one. Here’s my writ.

Finn holds out the ‘forgery’, which we can see from the back is just a projection of light. From the Warden’s perspective however, it appears authentic, solid.

WARDEN: It checks out. If you’ll wait here while we arrange your transport.

Finn and Rey step to one side while the Warden punches codes into a console, summoning a transport module. They share a tense expression. As the Warden works, Rey looks around the vestibule, uncomfortable.

REY: (discreetly, to Finn) We’re being watched.

FINN: (quietly) No we’re not. I told you, Erudans-

REY: No, we are.

We see what Rey sees now: figures in the same black uniform looking towards them, some beginning to shoulder their way through the crowd. Finn sees too.

FINN: (to the Warden and Rey) Actually, on second thoughts she’s fine. You’re fine, right?

He begins to pull Rey gently by the arm, away from the confused Warden. As they turn and make their way back through the vestibule, a tall figure steps into their path.

X-33: Excuse me, I’d like to have a look at that writ if I may.

We recognise the gynoid Peacekeeper. Finn and Rey do not. She is a head taller than either of them, and her face has almost no features; the bare impression of a nose, slight depressions where eyes would be. She looks down on them with menace.

FINN: I don’t think so.

He pushes past, but the Peacekeeper raises her arm, blaster now aimed at his back.

X-33: Don’t move.

He and Rey freeze. X-33 speaks quietly, under the noise of the library so as not to cause a scene.

X-33: Peacekeeper Corps. Cooperate with us and you won’t be harmed.

FINN: (not raising his hands) Look, there’s been a mistake-

X-33: I don’t think so. We tracked you here from your ship. Its carries a Loyalist signature.

The music racks up tension, as Finn looks around and sees Peacekeepers moving in from all directions.

FINN: (quietly, to X-33) And if I just keep on walking?

X-33: That would be grounds to open fire.

Finn locks eyes with Rey, then says:

FINN: Rey, run.

He whips round, making for his own blaster, as five Peacekeepers train theirs on him and Rey. The crowd parts in alarm, some ducking, others crying out.

Finn doesn’t get a chance to defend himself. The closest two Peacekeepers open fire, rings of expanding blue light shooting from their weapons at the fugitives. Rey and Finn are each hit and fall unconscious to the floor. We end the scene with a cut to black.

END OF SCENE XIII


	14. Capture by Peacekeepers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Finn have Phasma in their sights, but Ben Solo's Peacekeepers have them locked up as conspirators. It is up to the two of them to talk their way out, before Luke's hidden Jedi temple is revealed to the galaxy.

SCENE XIV: Capture by Peacekeepers

From the previous cut to black, images fade in, out, and in again as Finn regains consciousness. We see through his eyes an unfamiliar, hangar-like space, and a couple of blurry figures standing over him.

CAL: (voice only, muffled) …weren’t supposed to stun them.

Another fade in and out, as Finn’s head clears.

CAL: …should have given them a chance to-

X-33: You know these people. I didn’t want to risk them blowing themselves up. That place was crowded, I’ll remind you.

She notices Finn.

X-33: He’s awake.

CAL: Ah! (squatting beside Finn) So you are.

We cut away from Finn’s perspective to see him restrained on the floor. His hands are bound in cuffs that carry a low-energy charge, and he flinches as he tries to yank himself free.

CAL: Easy! Easy, you’re restrained. Don’t pull a muscle or anything…

The whole room is some cylindrical hangar bay, like a wind tunnel. It’s formed from independent sections, and some of the bulkheads slide slowly overhead, as though a giant hand is twisting sections of the cylinder from outside, counter to one another. At the far end behind the Peacekeepers, a circular window shows us a blue sky and a few wispy clouds. We are on board a ship, at altitude, but clearly in atmosphere. Finn takes this all in briefly, then stares daggers at the two Peacekeepers. He drags himself onto his knees.

FINN: You seem concerned for someone who just shot me. You make a habit of doing that to innocent people?

CAL: No, not as rule. But you’re not innocent. For one thing you’re a walking catalogue of Loyalist implants.

X-33: You came here in a Loyalist runabout, then resisted arrest trying to break into the Erudan Core.

FINN: Listen, you’ve got the wrong people. The ones you want are already making their way into the Core. We’re not-

Suddenly he notices what’s missing from the picture.

FINN: Where’s Rey?!

Cut to a different part of the ship; a brig. Rey lies unconscious on the floor of a cell. As she stirs, she clutches her head and tries to prop herself up. A ray shield hums in lieu of a fourth wall and she touches it, but is knocked back by a static charge. She sits catching her breath, then starts to look around.

Back to Finn. He is still on his knees, prevented from rising by his restraints.

CAL: Your friend’s fine. She’ll stay that way if you both truthfully answer our questions.

FINN: I’m not answering anything until I know she’s safe.

Cal and X-33 look at each other, then behind them, where we see Ben Solo standing. A couple of other Peacekeepers are nearby, with blasters trained on Finn.

CAL: (to Ben) Yeah, he needs to know, right?

FINN: Know what?

X-33: See where you’re kneeling?

Finn looks down. He is kneeling on some kind of large hatch.

X-33: That hatch opens on command, onto about a mile of open air above Eruda. Now if you don’t tell us where-

At this, Finn begins shaking his head, letting out a laugh.

FINN: You know, I thought I was wrong about you people. Republic Peacekeepers. I actually hoped for a while, over the last few days. But this…

Ben steps to the edge of the hatch.

BEN: Where’s the necklace?

FINN: I told you! Someone else has it. Someone who’s probably halfway to the inner Core by now to decrypt the thing.

Ben looks to X-33.

BEN: Confirm that. If she corroborates, assemble a strike team and head down there.

X-33 departs with a nod.

FINN: (shouting after her) Yeah, don’t take my word for it or anything! (looking back to Ben) You know, if your Chancellor hadn’t decided to keep that precious data chip around her neck for safekeeping, we wouldn’t even be-

BEN: You know about that?

Finn stops talking. He realises he’s said something dangerous.

BEN: I guess one more question then. Were you involved in the attack on the Sovereign?

Cut back to Rey. She is searching her cell walls in vain for something she can use to escape. From behind her, outside the cell, we hear a series of beeps and whistles. She turns to see BB-8 rolling inquisitively back and forth.

REY: Hey there, little guy. Are you my jailer? Or do you think you might help me get out of here?

She receives a couple more boops in response. She crouches to the droid’s level.

REY: You know, if I’d met you back on Jakku I’d have eaten for a week.

He whistles at that and rolls away in a hurry.

REY: Hey! I was joking!

X-33: You make friends easily.

The gynoid has approached Rey’s cell. She looks down at her through the ray shield.

X-33: So you’re a droid hunter?

REY: (looking the gynoid up and down) Yeah. You have to take the jobs that pay out in the desert.

X-33 steps forward and right through the ray shield, the alloy of her body bypassing it.

X-33: So what am I? Just a collection of parts to you?

Cut back to the hangar. We see the other Peacekeepers departing, leaving Ben and Finn alone.

BEN: (to Finn) Simple question, yes or no?

FINN: (defiantly) No. I was not part of the ‘attack’ on the Sovereign. See, I recall we were salvaging parts from a Destroyer, when your flagship jumped out of hyperspace and opened fire.

BEN: Well that’s what you get for stealing Empire tech. Republic law-

FINN: Yeah, your law. Because sometime in the last thirty years you said so. To us though, those parts are a lifeline. They’re our only defence against you.

BEN: I’d say that’s pretty rich, considering your people are about to use that tech to attack a Jedi temple.

FINN: I’m not part of that-

BEN: Were you part of the plot to kill the Chancellor?

Finn is incredulous.

FINN: I was not part of any plot to kill the Chancellor. Hell, I probably even saved her life. Soryn was the one she was fighting, when I blew out the window to stop her.

BEN: So you admit it, then. You were there when they tried to kill my mother?

At that, Finn falls silent. Ben is looking down at him with eyes just managing to contain his anger. Finn holds his gaze.

FINN: Oh. Oh, this is… this all makes so much sense now. Of course, you’re the son of the goddamn Chancellor.

BEN: What does that-

FINN: And of course that’s why I’m not even getting a fair hearing here! I suppose that makes your dad the famous Han Solo?

BEN: That’s right, Loyalist.

FINN: Where’d you grow up? Somewhere nice and far away from the war I’ll bet.

Ben, now losing hold of his emotions, stands aggressively. His hand twitches just a little towards his holstered blaster.

BEN: I was born in a warzone, I’ll have you know. On New Alderan.

FINN: New-

Finn again is lost for words. Then realisation dawns.

FINN: …New Alderan…

Back to Rey again. X-33 glowers from her great height as Rey gets to her feet.

X-33: Care to explain yourself?

REY: We both know what I do is different.

X-33: Is it though? Tell me, whenever you stripped my kind for parts, were you tempted to root around in our circuitry? Check to see if there was a spark of sentience you’d just snuffed out?

Cut to an exterior shot of the Sentinel. The score now suggests a rise towards action. In the sky high above, some distance away but closing fast, a small squadron of X-Wing fighters speeds in formation. We zoom in on the lead fighter’s cockpit. Soryn is piloting. She speaks into a comm and Phasma’s hologram pops up on her console.

SORYN: Progress report, Subcommander.

Cut to Phasma, inside the Erudan Core. Her team is outside a pair of steel doors. A Tech Trooper kneels nearby beside an open control panel. He is scanning it with a node on his gauntlet.

PHASMA: (to a projection of Soryn on her gauntlet) We’re accessing the inner Core now. Resistance was minimal.

We see a wider shot of the corridor, which is littered with the corpses of Erudan Wardens.

SORYN: (via hologram) Time until decryption?

As she speaks, the control panel lights up and the doors slide open.

PHASMA: Not long. We’re in now.

Phasma’s team enters the inner Core as a rising action theme continues to play. The inner chamber is the size of a stadium, a dome within a dome. It houses a glowing data shaft, miles high, which soars both out through the dome’s apex and down to unseen depths. Phasma crosses a bridge over this chasm and sets the necklace on a scanning podium. Immediately, the pommel is encased in light. The Core hums as it begins scanning the encased data chip, isolating Leia’s encryptions, working to crack them. A hologram of the data stream is projected above. Chains of numbers whir through permutations, combinations; symbols pop in and out of existence.

Cut to Soryn, in her fighter cockpit.

SORYN: (into the comm) Keep me informed. We’ll be ready to extract you once you’re done.

With that she cuts transmission. We see her steer her ship in a dive towards the Sentinel.

Cut to Finn and Ben in the hangar again. Music becomes quieter, but filled with tension.

FINN: New Alderan. Wow, it really is a small galaxy…

BEN: I don’t know what you-

FINN: We used to call it something different though: Yuroba. Recognise that name? Back then it was my home planet. But because our government declared for the Empire after Endor, my family was driven off. Yeah, no New Republic world was gonna play host to anyone who’d fought for the Empire, not once the Republic’s flag was planted in it!

Ben is stunned into silence; takes a step backwards. As he does, something strikes the ship. The cargo bay lurches. Ben stumbles, claxons blare all around and lights flash. A second explosion rocks the bay harder and both he and Finn are thrown to the ground.

Cut to Rey. We see the same has happened in her cell. She is down, while X-33 steadies herself on a wall.

X-33: (into a wrist-piece) Report.

PEACEKEEPER: (via comm) Loyalists! Must be! They got the jump on us.

X-33: (into wrist-piece) How weren’t they detected?

PEACEKEEPER: (via comm) They’re attacking in X-Wings! Old-school. Must have requisitioned some.

REY: (to X-33) I could have warned you about that, if you hadn’t just stunned us!

X-33 ends her transmission and exits through the ray shield. She then deactivates it and turns back to Rey.

X-33: Come on. It’s not safe here.

Back in the cargo bay. Alarms scream; flashing lights turn the whole hangar red.

BEN: (to Finn, shouting over alarms) Those your people out there?

FINN: They’re attacking with me inside! You really think they’re my people!?

BEN: Could be trying to free you!

FINN: We don’t do that! We’re supposed to die rather than give ourselves up!

As another shot from the Loyalists strikes the Sentinel, this time causing steam to vent from above, Ben kneels and removes Finn’s restraints.

BEN: Alright, I’m half convinced. Now for the other half.

From a side corridor, Rey enters in front of X-33. She and Finn lock eyes, then run to each other across the hangar but fall short of touching. All four are gathered now in the centre of the hangar, amid the chaos and the blows that shake the hull. John Williams is in full climax mode. Ben turns to Cal and X-33. All around, other Peacekeepers rush into the hangar.

BEN: (to X-33) X, there are Loyalists in the Core. Take a strike team there and retrieve the data chip before it’s decoded. Cal, you’re with me. We’ll take care of this attack.

REY: (looking from Finn to Ben and back) And us?

BEN: You want to prove you’re on our side?

Finn looks to Rey, who nods at him.

FINN: Yeah, this is what we came here to do. You gonna give us back our weapons?

Cut to exterior. At this point, the Sentinel is sustaining heavy damage. Dynamic shots show the Loyalist squadron coordinating a bombardment, aiming for engines, weapons. All are taken out and the ship lists, no longer able to resist gravity.

Back in the hangar. Ben talks into a wrist-piece as he hurries to an airlock.

BEN: This is Commander Solo to Black Squadron, ordering all hands to fighters. Repeat, all hands to fighters. Prepare to engage the enemy.

He reaches an airlock with the others in tow.

BEN: (to X-33) Trust these two only as far as a blaster barrel. But listen to them, and let them fight if they need to.

Peacekeepers now scramble across the hangar, sections of which are turning around them, reconfiguring to bring their fighters within reach. The walls are honeycombed with airlocks, which lead to the ships attached to the outer hull. One by one, the Peacekeepers enter their fighters and begin breaking from the Sentinel mothership. Finn and Rey too are rushed through an airlock by X-33, and find themselves back aboard the Stealth. While they retrieve their weapons, X-33 takes the helm and pilots them away.

A final external shot shows all fighters breaking loose of the Sentinel. The latter falls on a swift descent course towards the surface, both engines on fire while Loyalist ships circle, triumphant. Claxons sound from the streets below, and an aerial battle begins above.

END OF SCENE XIV


	15. Battle of the Erudan Skies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Rey and Finn fight their way down to the Erudan Core, a brutal battle is waged in the sky between Ben's Peacekeepers and the Loyalists' fleet of stolen X-Wings.

SCENE XV: Battle of the Erudan Skies

Cue Battle of Yavin theme and we’re good to go!

Spinning to avoid Loyalist fire, Ben pulls his fighter up and over the battle. The fighters on both sides are scrambled for now, disorganised as his pilots flee at odd angles from the falling Sentinel, and the Loyalists circle to pick them off. They draw first blood, taking down two fighters a second before they escape the mothership.

BEN: (into the comm) Black Squadron on me. Form up!

He pulls his fighter round in a loop and descends on the closest Loyalist. His scope lines up the shot, and a scatter of fire takes the first rogue X-Wing down, sending it tail-spinning to the surface. Immediately, Ben attracts a tail of his own, as another X-Wing pulls up and bears down on him. He banks to evade, then draws his pursuer past an allied fighter, who takes them out with a kill-shot to the belly.

CAL: (via comm) Got your back, Ben!

Through Ben’s cockpit, we see the Stealth descending from the battle, but she’s not alone. A couple of X-Wings break off in tandem and ride her wake. All three speed for the glistening city below.

BEN: (into the comm) Black Five, Black Nine, protect the Stealth. They’ve seen her.

Two fighters take the call and blast down after the trio.

We then see Ben’s squadron form up on his command, assuming a battle line with him at point. On his order, they make their first pass over the still scrambled enemy. Blaster fire screams within an inch of Ben’s cockpit as he weaves, dodging oncoming fire and ploughing straight through the X-Wing swarm. At least two more go down, though a Peacekeeper wing is clipped and sent spinning from the battle.

We cut to the battle from the belly up now, from the rear-view of the Stealth. X-33 is speeding them as fast as the ship will go, down towards the Core. But the X-Wing pair is hot on her engines. Blaster fire pours from their cannons and she swears, dodging. But the X-Wings, though older, are a time-honoured design, their pilots a match for her.

X-33: Damn it!

She barely avoids another volley, swerving the ship to the side and slamming everyone not strapped down into a bulkhead. We see Rey steady herself with her spear and scoop up a rolling BB-8, as the droid hurtles into a wall. X-33 shouts to Finn over the engines’ roar.

X-33: Lieutenant, right?

FINN: (regaining his feet, shouting) Yeah, that’s me!

X-33: Take the helm! You know this ship!

Finn leaps to the controls without question. X-33 meanwhile yells out orders to her Peacekeepers over the comm.

X-33: I’m going to need people on weapons! Move!

Peacekeepers jump to attention, tearing open hatches right and left. Rey beats one to the ventral turret and slides down behind the cannon’s controls. It’s a one-man module; she’s glassed-in on all sides with empty air tearing by just inches away. For a moment she’s disoriented. Then, taking the initiative, she heaves the cannon round, swivelling aft, and opens fire on their pursuers.

Back in the upper atmosphere, the Peacekeepers have the advantage. They have the numbers, and their pilots are war-hardened. On Ben’s command, they break the line and scramble around what’s left of the Loyalist squadron, herding them, forcing them to close ranks. The Peacekeepers fire from all sides and several more Loyalists go down flaming through the cloud barrier.

CAL: (inside his cockpit) Yes! Fish in barrel, right Ben?!

As he speaks however, Soryn’s ship slips through the Peacekeeper net. A quick-cut shows her at her own controls, as she weaves between Ben’s best fighters, evading the fire she draws and picking off more than her share. Ben looks on through gritted teeth. Then he goes in pursuit of her. Sensing him, she speeds on a path directly up, cutting clean through the Peacekeeper line.

CAL: (via comm) Leave her, Ben, she’s goading you!

Ben however seems to sense who it is at the helm. He won’t let her get away.

BEN: This one’s their leader! If we can take her down-

At that moment however, we see where Soryn is leading Ben. She has aimed directly for the sun, and as she pulls aside the glare hits Ben’s cockpit. Ben’s eyes screw shut against the light. When he opens them again, reinforcement Loyalist fighters are tearing by on both sides, bucking his ship with their wakes, and he spins to avoid their fire. More still descend from above, right out of the sun’s glare, coming in hot from orbit like comets. He smacks his console.

CAL: (via comm) Damn, that’s a lot! Ben are you seeing this?

BEN: Yeah! We still have the numbers though. Try to flank-

But at that moment we see an X-Wing plough straight for a Peacekeeper. It dives on a collision course, hitting head-on, and both fighters go up in a blaze of plasma. Ben watches pieces of both ships rain from the sky. Then he turns to pursue. Another X-Wing goes belly-to-belly with a fighter, before ramming it from below. Again, both are lost. Vapour and smoke blast out in all directions, washing over Ben’s cockpit.

CAL: Sweet Force! Are they insane?!

The Loyalists continue to descend, the Peacekeeper line breaking as they swerve to evade them. The Loyalists don’t stop however, or come up again for another pass. Instead they make straight for the surface. Ben speeds to take point as his own ranks form a new line. We see his fingers tighten on the controls. Trails of smoke streak from sky to surface, one or two of his downed comrades still spinning helplessly in freefall.

BEN: Black Squadron, pursuit course.

CAL: (via comm) Aye, sir.

His squadron dives, trailing cloud as they plunge through after Soryn and her squadron.

Back down below, the Stealth is within sight of the dome. They are down to one pursuer, but the remaining X-Wing fires a shot that blasts off the dorsal turret. The Peacekeeper manning it is ripped free and goes spinning into open air. X-33’s voice cracks across the comm.

X-33: We’re out a turret!

FINN: Damn it! Damn it!

The chase is now speeding over the surface of the dome, Finn taking them in low.

X-33: (over the comm) X to ventral, you’re our last gun. Our pilot’s going to line you up for a shot.

FINN: I am?

X-33: Ventral, did you hear that?

Cut to Rey, jaw clenched as she tries to get the enemy in her scope, but it’s out of range.

REY: Yeah! Yeah I can do that! Flip us over!

Finn, swearing, slams the controls and turns the Stealth belly-up, skimming within metres of the dome. Through Rey’s eyes, the dome swings away and their pursuer bears in from above. She fires, hitting the X-Wing square in the prow. As it goes down it skips over the dome like a burning stone, then skids to a scorching halt on the metal. She cheers in victory. Finn too.

X-33: That’s the last of them. Take us down.

Finn pulls them about and sets them down beside the library from before. The struts are barely on the ground before the hatch opens and four Peacekeepers leap to the plaza. We see X-33 lead them at a sprint for the entrance, with Rey and Finn, and BB-8 in tow. The two stop to look briefly up at the sky battle before entering. Then they follow into the vestibule. It’s deserted now, evacuated, and no one stops them as they approach a tunnel, blasters raised.

Back to the sky. Through her cockpit, we see Soryn nosedive straight towards Eruda’s capital city. She pulls up a few hundred feet off the ground, level with the skylanes, and, without slowing, begins weaving through the city’s spires, scattering traffic, dodging skybridges. Ben’s own squadron hurtles into this minefield. His hands squeeze his controls as Soryn dances in and out of his scope.

CAL: Sir, we should break off! This is dangerous!

BEN: Maintain pursuit, Black Squadron.

He thumbs the trigger of his blasters. A Loyalist ship on Soryn’s flank bursts into flames. From a shot below, we see the chase speed over an alien ballgame, playing out in a stadium suspended above the city. A gasp goes up from the crowd as the burning X-Wing careens overhead, narrowly missing the stands before colliding with a building.

CAL: (via comm) We are endangering civilian lives!

BEN: All the more reason to end this chase now!

Soryn shoots under a skybridge, but a Peacekeeper mistimes and smashes straight into it. Ben barely swings wide as the bridge comes crashing down.

BEN: Damn it!

From the streets of the city, citizens run screaming as both bridge and burning fighter fall towards the camera.

BEN: (shaken, but determined) Solo to squadron, disengage.

CAL: Repeat, Commander?

BEN: You have the squadron, Cal. Pull them back to open airspace. I’ll take it from here. Contact the Republic. Tell them there’s a major incursion in progress on Eruda.

CAL: (after a pause) Aye, sir. Good luck.

We see the squadron pull up and out of the city. For a moment, Ben loses Soryn and all her remaining allies in the chaos.

BEN: (to himself) Come on, where are you?

Then her ship rises from beneath. She is right alongside him now, close enough to touch if not for the cockpit glass between them. Turning her head, we get a sense she is locking eyes with him under her helmet. Then she rolls, and pulls up over the top of his fighter. Their hulls actually graze, sparks flying between them, and Ben’s flightpath is forced down, down towards the crowded streets. Above their two ships, the other Loyalists fly in close formation, setting a trap for him.

Ben is helpless to the bait. Rather than crash into the street below, he breaks away and rolls up, flying straight through the ring of Loyalist ships above him. He is caught instantly in their crossfire. Both his engines are hit; a shot glances off his cockpit, blackening the screen and leaving him flying blind. Ben can do nothing but try to keep his craft level as it speeds with belly parallel to the ground, losing altitude by the second.

Closeup on his face. His eyes close. Whether through instinct or pure, dumb luck, he keeps himself level with the ground until the last second, whereupon his hull connects with the turf of an urban park. He tears into the ground as he lands, ripping turf and mud free, with both engines bursting into flame. Inside, we see him thrown against the piloting console, then cut to black.

An exterior shot shows the fighter grounded, hull buckled, at the head of a smoking trench. Smoke rises from his craft against the clear blue sky, and a lake even sparkles serenely, feet from where his prow has buried itself in the dirt. All around, Loyalist fighters circle and begin to touch down, while citizens flee in fright.

Soryn is first from her cockpit. Sirens whine faintly in the distance, but it’s otherwise silent. She advances almost languidly on Ben’s ship, her remaining allies following her lead with weapons drawn.

END OF SCENE XV


	16. Plucked from the Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Finn close in on Phasma, but Soryn has her own plans for Ben Solo.

SCENE XVI: Plucked from the Mind

In the Erudan Core, a glass transport module speeds down a tunnel towards the camera. Inside stand Rey, Finn and four Peacekeepers, gripping onto whatever they can as the tunnel lights streak by. X-33 mans the controls. A Peacekeeper next to Finn scrutinises his armour.

PEACEKEEPER: I like you’re suit.

FINN: (smiling) Thanks.

A second Peacekeeper looks over.

PEACEKEEPER: It true you’ve got integrated guns on that thing?

Finn flexes both gauntlets in answer, unsheathing and sheathing his wrist-blasters. The second Peacekeeper whistles, and a third leans over with interest. Finn starts answering questions about his suit’s specs: the alloys it’s made from, its propulsion method etc. At their feet, BB-8 rolls around unsteadily. The ride is less than smooth. He knocks into Rey’s boot.

REY: Hey there, little guy.

He beeps and backs off.

REY: Sorry we got off on the wrong foot. (she kneels to pat the droid) I’m Rey.

FINN: (still to the Peacekeepers) …sets off a detonation sequence if they think they’re going to be captured. So you need to take out the-

X-33: (from the controls) We know. We’ve also disabled yours, in case any old instincts kick in.

Finn’s hand goes to the space where his auto-destruct pack should be.

X-33: We’re here. Ready yourselves.

She halts the craft and everyone lurches forward, BB-8 banging into the back of her chair. The doors hiss open and X-33 leads them out into a terminal. A wide shot shows us the bodies of Erudan Wardens strewn everywhere, among blaster burns that scorch the floor and walls.

X-33: This way.

She heads down a corridor. Finn and Rey follow cautiously between her and the Peacekeepers.

FINN: Trust us as far as a blaster’s barrel, her captain said. Think we can trust her?

Rey doesn’t answer, but holds her blaster a little tighter.

Transition back to the site of Ben’s crashed fighter. Flames now crackle freely over it. Half a dozen Loyalists train their guns on it from all angles, as Soryn approaches and kicks the fighter’s cockpit. The lower half of it is submerged in mud and rubble. As she powers up a wrist-blaster, the cockpit roof opens with a hiss and a gout of smoke. She points her blaster inside. As the smoke clears however, it is evident Ben is not there.

A moment later, he leaps from the vacant droid hatch on top of the craft. His lightsabre is in hand and brandished, blade humming as it spins and deflects the blaster bolts that fly his way. He balances on top of the fighter’s crumpled hull with blade drawn across his body. His clothing is torn, one eye swollen and bloody from an open wound in his forehead, but he’s prepared to fight. Parrying, he deflects a second salvo and a bolt strikes down the Loyalist that fired it.

SORYN: Hold your fire!

The Loyalists do so. But Ben holds his stance, motionless save for the breeze tugging at his cloak. Smoke still rises behind him and flames lick from the fighter’s engines.

SORYN: Lower your weapons. (shouting up at Ben) A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defence. Never for attack, isn’t that right Ben?

BEN: You know who I am?

SORYN: Let’s just say you’ve got your mother’s eyes. And I would know. I’ve seen the whites of them.

Ben swings his sabre up above his head and makes to leap into the midst of the Loyalists. In response, they lock weapons on him again, poised to fire.

SORYN: Hold fire! I want to see him make the first move.

Ben does no such thing. Soryn takes a step closer to the fighter.

SORYN: But you won’t, will you? It’s against what your Master drummed into you.

She takes another step. Ben is still poised, looking down at her from the literal high ground, which is of course on fire, battered, unstable under his feet. For him, this is a paradox of his nature, his upbringing: the Jedi code, as upheld by his mother, his uncle, never to attack unprovoked; or to shoot first like his father.

SORYN: You could always take your own life. (she indicates his sabre) We’d have a hard time stopping you, with those Jedi reflexes.

For a moment Ben hesitates. Then he sheaths the blade.

A second later, his hand goes for his blaster. Faster than the eye, he aims at Soryn. But the Loyalist is quicker. Her own blaster bolt catches him in the hip. He falls backwards from the fighter’s hull, and the Loyalists advance on him.

Back to the Core. The strike team sprints down a tubular corridor, following a map projected from X-33’s wrist. Every few metres, more bodies lie prone or slumped against walls, Warden and Loyalist both. The Loyalists have not reached their goal unscathed, and Rey looks down on a few with grim pleasure. A siren blares faintly in the background, though no one is left to respond to it.

X-33 steers them into a large chamber filled with computer stations and scientific equipment. It has the look of a lab. At one end is a door like the one Phasma used to enter the Core. A warning light flashes above it.

X-33: They’ve locked the inner Core down. (she looks to BB-8) Can you get it open? Without them detecting us?

BB-8 whirs in response and plugs into the door’s control panel. X-33 beckons the team around her wrist display.

X-33: From the bodies, I’d say they still outnumber us. This should bring us in above where they are.

On the projection, two flashing dots show their position relative to the Loyalists.

X-33: Each of you pick a target and stick to it. I’ll take out their leader. (to Finn) Lieutenant, any last advice?

FINN: Yeah. Don’t underestimate her.

The Peacekeepers form up in front of the door, blasters in hand as BB-8 works. Rey meanwhile attaches an EMP head to her spear, twirls the weapon, tests its weight. Then something catches her eye.

A cylinder stands on a podium at the room’s centre, cables and pipes feeding into it, a colourless fluid suspended within. And inside that, a metallic grey sphere floats at Rey’s eyelevel. She approaches. Then, when she’s close enough to see her own reflection, the sphere inside warps its shape. It’s no solid at all, but some kind of liquid metal. Before Rey’s eyes, its surface ‘boils’. Tendrils reach like appendages towards the glass. Then the whole thing flattens itself against the inside of the tube.

Suddenly Rey isn’t standing in the lab. She’s staring around her, at a field of crops beneath a bright sky. Everything is indistinct, like it’s giving off a light of its own, and a man stands some distance away among the crops. Ears of alien wheat brush at his clothing like waves. He seems to be harvesting the wheat, and, as Rey gets closer, she sees he is using a lightsabre.

Voices echo. The whole experience has an ethereal feel to it. We do not see Rey; rather we see through her eyes as she approaches the man.

MAN: …blades grow rusty with disuse. We should celebrate that, not mourn how sharp they used to be.

He continues swinging the sabre. Ears of wheat fall to the ground, singed at the stalk but with heads intact. A woman’s voice is heard, as though coming from Rey herself, though it is not her voice.

WOMAN: Can a lightsabre lose its ‘edge’?

MAN: (laughing) No. Still, I’m happy to see the day when we need only use them as tools.

Another swish of the blade. More falling sheaves.

WOMAN: But the Force… that’s different?

The man doesn’t reply immediately.

MAN: When we last spoke, Yoda said there’d be some who feared the becalming of the Force.

He stops harvesting.

MAN: Still, that’s no reason to stop striving for peace.

WOMAN: Does that mean I can never use mine as a weapon?

The man laughs again.

MAN: Learn how to use it as a tool first. And hurry about it. There’s a storm coming.

At this point, the camera (or Rey’s eyes) moves upwards. The clear sky is dark on the horizon. Storm clouds boil over it, moving faster than normal cloud, rolling towards the field where the Jedi Master stands.

A voice jolts Rey from the vision.

X-33: What are you doing?

REY: (breathing sharply) Nothing. I wasn’t-

X-33: Stop what you’re doing right now.

Rey turns. But it is not her that X-33 is talking to. At a console nearby, Finn is accessing data files. Images flip by on a screen. His temple node flashes as his gauntlet projects a beam towards it.

FINN: Relax, I’m just helping get the doors open.

At that, X-33 points her wrist-blaster at him.

X-33: No, you’re not. You’re accessing restricted files in the Republic archive. Desist or I’ll shoot you.

Finn does as she says and shuts off his gauntlet beam. However, as he steps away from the console, one single, unsettling image lingers on the screen before vanishing. We see only a piece of the image; the rest is obscured by Finn’s body. X-33 keeps her blaster trained on him as he turns.

X-33: What did you download? What were you trying to see?

REY: Finn?

FINN: Rey, I’m sorry, I had to. It’s important.

X-33: (louder) What did you see, Lieutenant?

The Peacekeepers by the door look over.

FINN: I had to make sure. My people weren’t just coming here to decode the necklace. We were looking to confirm a couple of rumours too.

REY: What rumours?

FINN: About what the New Republic’s planning to build.

X-33: I don’t know what you think-

At that second BB-8 beeps triumphantly. The door to the inner dome slides upwards, and the light from the core itself spills into the lab. X-33 looks over her shoulder, then back to Finn, weapon still pointed at his head.

X-33: You picked the wrong time to break my trust.

FINN: Well, you can stun me again after we take down Phasma.

Rey rushes to the door at that. It has only risen partway before freezing, but Rey slides underneath, blaster in hand.

X-33: Damn it! (to her Peacekeepers) Go after her! Don’t let her give us away!

Cue rising action theme.

The Peacekeepers crawl through after Rey, as does Finn and finally X-33. We see they have entered the Core on a gantry much higher than Phasma’s. Phasma herself is by the core, still waiting for the necklace to decode. She paces, at least eight Loyalists standing to attention nearby. The data core hums loudly as it breaks down the final few pieces of code. Elsewhere, more machinery thunders from unseen depths, gears whirring, giant fans keeping the core from overheating.

Rey is already hurrying across the gantry. It hugs the inner curve of the dome, and she has a long way to go before she reaches Phasma. X-33, Finn and the rest of the strike team sprint after her, their footfalls masked by the noise around them.

We cut to a shot of Ben’s eyes opening. Like Finn when he was captured, Ben’s arms are cuffed behind his back. He sits up quickly, wincing off the pain of the wound in his side, and looks around. Beyond a circular window is a vision of slowly moving stars. Pulling the shot back, we see it’s actually an airlock. Ben in fact kneels in the space between the inner and outer airlock doors.

SORYN: I’m sure you’ve already assessed your situation.

Ben turns on a knee and sees Soryn looking down at him beyond the inner door. Her voice is filtered through a comm.

BEN: I talk. You don’t blast me out the airlock. Seems simple to me.

SORYN: It is.

BEN: Then I guess get it over with. Blast me out, because I’m not talking.

SORYN: You don’t know what I want yet.

Ben shrugs as best he can with arms restrained.

BEN: I assume the coordinates to Ach To. You’re worried my strike team’s not going to let yours out of the Core alive. I’m your backup.

Soryn doesn’t respond at first.

BEN: Like I said, I’m not-

SORYN: Your thoughts give away even more than your mouth does, did you know that? I’d have thought Skywalker would stamp that out of you.

Ben doesn’t know how to respond to that. After a moment, Soryn opens the inner airlock door and steps inside with Ben, sealing it again behind her. She then starts to take off her helmet. Ben looks on with curiosity. Underneath, Soryn is fairly unremarkable-looking. Attractive, with hair shaved close to the scalp on one side, and perhaps a day’s worth of regrowth. The other side is longer, less tamed and red-brown.

BEN: Who are you? I’ve only ever seen Jedi with reflexes like yours. But that’s not-

SORYN: Then I suppose I’m a Jedi.

Ben laughs out loud.

BEN: If you were, you’d know there’s more to it than just a title.

SORYN: You mean Skywalker’s teachings? Following a code? Well, we’ve seen what little it takes for you to break those. What’s left after that but the title?

She kneels before him and closes her eyes.

BEN: You weren’t one of Luke’s students.

She hovers a hand just inches from Ben’s face.

BEN: So is it really the Force? Or just technical wizardry? Something you people threw together from Empire junk?

SORYN: Does it matter? Either way, I’ll take what I need from your mind.

With that, we see images as Soryn plucks them from Ben’s mind. He resists, much as the Loyalist did with him, throwing memories up like a shield to block her out: her people’s ships going down in flames over Eruda; the Stealth evading its pursuers and heading for the Core. He even unearths a few from her own mind. We see Leia fiercely holding her own with her sabre, and Soryn foundering as she’s blown out into space.

But Soryn overcomes him. Soon, she’s sifting through Ben’s memories. Personal memories: embracing his mother on Coruscant, smiles exchanged with his father. Earlier memories flash by: training to use a blaster, a sabre. A much younger Ben clashes sticks, rather than sabres with another Padawan on a grassy hill. A handsome youth presses a necklace into the hand of a young woman; shares a kiss with her under a starry sky…

The images cut to Ben and Soryn breathing hard, eyes locked with one another’s. Ben starts laughing.

BEN: It doesn’t matter… how hard you try. (catching his breath) I don’t even know where Ach To is. You know I’m… not lying. They flew us in blind. Ach To could be anywhere in the entire galaxy… even just one system over from here, and you’d never find it… Not without searching every star…

SORYN: Stars. (smiling suddenly) That’s clever, Ben, trying to throw me off like that. But you’re hiding things even from yourself. Not from me though.

Her eyes close. More memories flash by. Ben is lying side by side with a young woman beneath a sky full of stars. A different location, a different meadow, a beach with waves serenely lapping at their naked feet. But always, always under the same star-filled sky, the same constellations pointed out one to the other, traced with outstretched finger, as a pale hand encircles his at the wrist, moving with it to learn what shapes they form in the depths of space…

SORYN: There they are. How many nights did you spend gazing up that them, Ben? Did Skywalker know? Did he try and stop you? Either way, they’re all here, burned into your memory. Let’s see if we can’t pluck them out, one by one. You can’t resist. It’s only a matter of time.

Sweat beads on Ben’s brow. He cries out in pain and we cut away.

END OF SCENE XVI


	17. Battle of the Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all comes down to this: Rey, Finn and the Peacekeepers against Phasma and her squad of Loyalists. Only one faction can walk out of the Core alive.

SCENE XVII: Battle of the Core

We re-join Rey where we left her: in the dome of Eruda’s inner Core. Phasma’s team is on the gantry below, next to the core itself as the immense computer keeps digesting the necklace’s encryption codes. Rey moves stealthily above, her footsteps lost under the roar of surrounding machinery. As she approaches a position above Phasma, maybe fifty feet away, she crouches, readies her blaster and aims it over the gantry’s parapet. She fingers the trigger.

At that moment, she is knocked down as X-33 tackles her. The two roll briefly, but X-33 soon has Rey in a disabling hold. She twists the girl’s arm so she drops the blaster, while simultaneously smothering any sounds of pain and protest that escape her mouth. Rey’s eyes dart in anger. Her face contorts under X-33’s grip, but the droid holds on tight, her own face expressionless as always.

X-33: That’s enough.

She doesn’t speak quietly, but there’s no way anyone more than a few feet away will hear over the background noise. The four Peacekeepers and Finn approach from behind X-33, as Rey breathes heavily in anger, unable to do anything more.

FINN: X, come on, she was just trying to-

X-33: She’s a volatile component.

At that, the gynoid skilfully twists Rey around, and cuffs her right arm, lashing it to the gantry rail. Finn glances down at Phasma’s team, but they still show no signs of spotting them. Then he glares back at X-33.

FINN: You want to take on all those Loyalists without her?

X-33: Without you too. Stay with her and keep her safe, otherwise who knows what a stray blaster bolt might do.

Rey and Finn look to each other, incredulity and fury playing out on both their features. But they know they’re beaten.

FINN: Nine Loyalists and their subcommander, against four Peacekeepers and you.

X-33: I like the odds. Don’t underestimate us.

She stands and straightens her trench coat. Her hat has long since been lost somewhere, but a draught from the fans deep below ruffles the jacket.

X-33: (to her Peacekeepers) Attack strategy ‘Corellia’. Remember, I target their leader.

The Peacekeepers obediently move out, spreading themselves around the gantry that encircles Phasma’s lower one, concentrically so they have an easier angle of fire.

X-33: (to Rey and Finn) You’re not bad, either of you. But you’re a risk.

With that she goes to assume a position of her own.

It only takes a moment of her being out of earshot, before Finn kneels by Rey and starts cutting through the arm cuff with a laser torch. He has to work slowly, carefully to avoid catching her skin, but she grits her teeth and trusts him.

REY: Thanks.

FINN: Yeah, they’re welcome. They need us.

REY: What did you see on that console?

FINN: You don’t want to know. But I’ll explain when we get out of here alive. What did you see, back there? You kind of went away for a while…

REY: (hesitating) Someone I think I used to know. But I’ve forgotten them.

A shot from the Loyalists’ point of view shows Phasma checking the console. Many of the flashing digits in the data stream are now solid, the core having isolated the greater part of the code. It’s only a matter of minutes before Phasma has it. Above and beyond her shoulder, we see Peacekeepers assume positions in the shadows, all around the upper gantry. From X-33’s point of view, we see her aim her arm-blaster.

X-33: (into a comm) On my mark. Fire!

From upper gantry to lower, four white blasts and one blue streak down and catch two out of the nine Loyalists. Each goes down with a burn smouldering on their armour, but X-33’s blue bolt only takes out Phasma’s destruct pack. Phasma glares at the sparking, maimed component, then spins and backs quickly away, her arm cannon trained on the blue blast’s origin.

From above, another volley follows, but this time none strike home. Cue action music as the Loyalists return fire and retreat around the curve of the core. Seven Loyalists and Phasma remain, and the Peacekeepers move stealthily across their crow’s-nest, seeking new sniper positions and keeping low.

X-33: (into the comm) Track them. There’s only so far they can run.

Down below, Phasma has paused with her back to the glowing core, alongside two Loyalists. Her chrome exo-suit catches the light crackling in the core’s depths, as she powers her arm cannon.

LOYALIST: (to Phasma) Orders?

PHASMA: (into her own comm, addressing her whole squadron) We only need a few more minutes to decode the necklace. After that, it will only take one of us to escape with it. Hold them off at all costs.

Through her visor, we see her scanning the higher levels of the dome, searching for heat signatures. She and her Loyalists split ways and spread out along the gantry.

In the upper levels, a Peacekeeper shoots and takes out another Loyalist below. But a return shot catches him in the chest and he plunges over the parapet into the chasm. His body attracts great crackling arcs of energy from the core as he drops, until it disappears beneath whatever swirling vapours keep the core cool at its lower levels.

X-33 meanwhile pounds across the gantry. Her droid feet clang on the metal faster than a human sprinter. Her blaster is raised and her own enhanced sight seeks Phasma’s heat, but it’s obscured by the core’s. A blast hits the parapet just by her and she recoils, then returns fire and takes the fourth Loyalist down. The force throws him back into the core.

At that moment, Phasma’s arm cannon powers and fires a huge energy blast. It strikes the gangway close to X-33, who magnetises to hold on as it shakes. Then it tears free of its anchor points and begins to tilt. The gynoid springs free as it falls, droid legs launching her a full fifty feet to the lower gantry. She lands crouching, with a clang that shakes the walkway.

On the gantry ahead, Phasma’s huge form charges her, arm cannon powering again. The metalwork shudders under each footfall as the soldiers advance, each firing and evading the other’s shots. As they close in, three of X-33’s strike Phasma, once, twice, and again square in the chest, but her armour all but absorbs them, the impact barely staggering her. Undeterred, X-33 keeps charging, until Phasma fires a return volley.

The first blast takes X-33’s weapon-arm off. A second tears both legs from under her. She goes down with a clatter to the gantry as sparks fly from her severed limbs. With just one limb remaining, she keeps dragging herself forward, blank face locked with Phasma’s, while the Loyalist aims a final shot to her head.

At that moment there’s a roar from above. The shot turns with Phasma, and we see Finn, with Rey in his arms, diving in like a hawk.

FINN: (close to Rey’s ear) Go get her!

Rey lands in a crouch and whips round, blaster firing out two shots that floor a couple of advancing Loyalists. She makes straight for Phasma, whose eyes are still locked on Finn. He is still airborne, speeding for her, and banks to evade her fire. With a roll he disappears down beneath the gantry, then appears on her other side and unleashes a lethal red volley of his own. But Phasma is airborne too now. Both thrusters fire her on a deadly arc towards Finn. Her arm-blade unsheathes; she aims for his chest. With a crash the two meet mid-air, sparks flying between them as they grapple, slashing, punching and tumbling over one another. They vanish round the curve of the core and we lose sight of them.

Rey meanwhile stares after them, before going to attend X-33. The droid is down for the count, sparking out but alive. Her eye depressions of course betray nothing as Rey inspects her.

X-33: I’m down. But don’t scrap me just yet.

REY: We’ll get you out once this is over.

X-33: Just get the necklace.

Cut back to Finn and Phasma. Each has the other in a mid-air death-grip as they careen around the dome, the smoke from their thrusters intertwining. In one hand she seizes and tries to crush his helmet, while his arm-blade plunges deep into her breastplate, prying at it to open her up like a can. Each eventually gets off a glancing blaster shot to the other, and they tumble as one, both their thruster packs damaged, in half-controlled flight for the nearest gantry. They break apart only on impact and go clattering across the metal, stunned but not done.

The shot swings away to the Peacekeepers, who have the Loyalists down to just a handful. Having herded them together, they now rappel down from the upper gantry to surround them. They open fire before even touching down, and take out all but one final Loyalist, who throws her blaster at their feet.

PEACEKEEPER: Surrendering? That’s not like y-

Too late, another of the three Peacekeepers fires at the Loyalist’s destruct pack. Her suit detonates. The whole gantry section is engulfed in a fireball and plunges to the abyss, metal shards and still-flailing Peacekeeper bodies plummeting with it.

The music drops in orchestration, but not intensity, as we cut back to Rey, slowly approaching Phasma where she lies. Close by, the core continues to decrypt the necklace, and we infer from the ratio of static to flickering numbers that it is approaching completion.

The subcommander is rising to her feet, and sees Rey as the girl opens fire with a barrage of shots. Her armour, though damaged, again absorbs each shot, and she aims her own cannon, only to find that Finn has crippled it. With a grunt, she slides off the gauntlet and it drops to the gantry. Beneath, her hand is burned and bloodied. She flexes it, makes a fist, then heads for Rey with blade extended.

It is down to just the two of them now. Finn still lies unconscious. X-33 is crippled. All others on both sides have taken each other out. The two now charge for one another, weapons brandished, but Phasma easily feigns, feints and scores the first hit. A bull-like blow with her maimed hand sends Rey sprawling backwards.

PHASMA: I know you. I fought you on that waste of a planet. I’d have thought after what I did to your friend, you’d-

Rey kicks up from the ground and swings her spear at Phasma’s legs, but the Loyalist is fast, and brutally strong. She parries the blow, and the two engage each other just like they did on the wing of the Alliance cruiser, spear to blade.

With each swing, Rey aims for the rupture in Phasma’s chest armour, while the latter protects it, aiming blows in return at any point on Rey’s body she can reach. But the girl from Jakku is agile, dodging and turning each of the hits until eventually she finds an opening. She drives the end of her spear – blunt end, not bladed, but still with force – into the sizzling wound in Phasma’s breastplate. Letting out a cry, she wrenches down, prying the gap still wider. But Phasma brings her arm-blade down and cleaves the spear in Rey’s hands. The shaft splinters. Rey, stumbling from the blow, fails to block another crushing hit to the chest and goes down with the air knocked out of her.

The remaining length of spear, with EMP head still attached clatters away. Phasma advances on Rey with blade poised and gleaming. We see the fear in Rey’s widened eyes. At the last second however, her arm thrusts out on instinct. The spear blade trembles where it fell, flies to her hand, and Rey with a burst of agility rolls and stabs the weapon up into Phasma’s thruster pack.

Energy ripples over the chrome armour. The Loyalist crashes to the ground, her suit’s circuits fried and useless, the armour now imprisoning rather than aiding her. Rey stands with murderous glare over her, as Phasma looks up through her visor. Slowly, Rey slides the point of her spear, EMP head spent but still sharp, in through the now gaping aperture in Phasma’s breastplate. She presses it directly over her heart.

REY: Take off your helmet.

PHASMA: (not doing so) Kill me, girl, if you’re going to.

REY: Take it off.

PHASMA: Why?

REY: So I can see your face first.

PHASMA: That might not be wise. Take it from someone who’s looked a lot of dying people in the eye. It takes a certain detachment that I don’t think you have.

REY: Do it.

Phasma reaches to her throat and disengages her helmet.

PHASMA: There. Now you get to see what I saw when I killed your boyfriend. Was it worth it?

REY: To see you suffer? Maybe.

PHASMA: I won’t. We’re trained to die for our cause, girl, haven’t you learned that yet? What does it matter if I go out on your terms or mine? The life I chose was always going to end this way.

Rey is frozen by the words. She’s spent days working her way to this moment, but as always it is different to actually have a person’s life balanced on the end of your blade. Rey makes as if to press down on the blade, hesitates, and all the while Phasma’s expression betrays nothing; not fear for her life, not regret over taking Daemon’s. Rey fights to keep tears of anger from her own eyes, as she weighs the decision.

PHASMA: Go on. Find out who you really are.

Rey draws the spear back. To stab it through Phasma’s beating heart? Or to spare her? Even Rey doesn’t get to find out, because in that second a blaster bolt strikes Phasma’s chest and the Loyalist falls limp. She is dead before she even hits the gantry.

Finn stands there, a short distance behind Rey. He lowers his wrist-blaster just as Rey turns on him.

Finn’s face is bear, his helmet lost in the fight with Phasma. His eyes betray nothing. Rey’s fill with rage.

REY: Why?

He doesn’t answer at first; just holds his arms out to the sides.

REY: She was mine! Why did you do that?

Finn looks her straight in the eyes.

FINN: It’s not why you came here.

REY: Not what I… What the hell do you know?! So she’s just another kill to you, is that it? She killed Daemon! She killed him! She was nothing to you, but to me… to me-

FINN: She wasn’t nothing to me, Rey. She was someone I fought with, but I had to kill her. I had to do it.

REY: No! You should have let-

FINN: No, I didn’t want you to. All this time, you kept saying you were coming for her: for Phasma, to kill Phasma. But I could never buy that, Rey. I couldn’t. I think underneath it all it wasn’t about revenge for you. It was about doing the right thing. It was about saving lives, helping people. You said yourself the Loyalists needed to be stopped. You said that.

REY: I…

Rey has no words. She just looks down at the body, at Finn, back to Phasma, whose murder Finn has robbed her of.

FINN: I’ve killed before like you said. Whatever else I do with my life, I’m still a killer. But you…

REY: It was my choice to make.

FINN: I made it for you. And maybe that was wrong. Either way it’s done now.

For a long while, the two stare at each other over Phasma’s body. Then, without Rey lowering her spear or saying anything, Finn backs away and goes to take the necklace from the podium. The data stream vanishes as he takes it, holds it up in his fist.

A panning shot shows us a birds-eye of the inner dome, zooming out past gantries filled with the bodies of Loyalists and Peacekeepers. Rey and Finn move slowly, not speaking, towards where X-33 still lies. We transition away.

END OF SCENE XVII


	18. The Prisoner Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Loyalists are far from defeated, and as the Republic fleet closes in Commander Soryn makes her demands known.

SCENE XVIII: The Prisoner Exchange

We transition to outside the Core. It is now night and Eruda’s moons ride high. Citizens surround the plaza, kept at bay by both Peacekeepers and Core Wardens, while reclamation droids crawl among the wreckage from the aerial battle. Much of it is still smoking, and the plaza is streaked with scorch marks from forced landings.

Over it all, a fighter descends with searchlights probing, flooding the plaza and the dome’s outer face while Finn and Rey exit. The pair carries X-33 between them, using her trench coat as a stretcher. As the fighter nears them they set her down, and shield their eyes against the light and the wind thrown up from its thrusters.

Cal leaps from the fighter’s boarding ramp before it’s even grounded and rushes to the droid.

CAL: Thank the Force, X!

He kneels, nudging BB-8 aside as the small droid rolls between him and X-33. She pushes herself up on her one limb.

CAL: Are you alright?

She cocks her head down at the damage.

CAL: Fair point.

X-33: I’ll get fixed up. Just hold off the hug until then. How are things out here?

CAL: Better than they are up there. (pointing towards space) Did you get the data chip?

Finn holds it up for him and Cal breathes out with relief.

CAL: That’s something we can be grateful for. Come on, I’ll escort you all to the Sovereign.

X-33: Coruscant’s here?

CAL: A fleet showed up when they heard what was happening on Eruda. They’ve surrounded the Loyalist ship.

X-33: And the bad news?

CAL: (after a pause) They’re holding Ben hostage.

Transition to a shot in orbit of Eruda. The Peacekeeper squadron ascends to space through the atmosphere, escorting the Stealth between them. The shot swings to show us the distant Alliance cruiser, surrounded by a fleet of New Republic starships.

The fighters dock with the Sovereign. Aside from the flagship, the fleet consists of several Mon Calamari cruisers (recognisable despite updates), a squadron of X-Wings and one immense gunship. This last is the BATTLESHIP CODA, personal vessel of the New Republic’s Grand Admiral Reev Tryden. Among its arsenal of weaponry, a central cannon points towards the Alliance.

Cut to the Sovereign’s bridge; low-lit, filled with Republic soldiers. Standing central at the raised command station are Leia, Han, and a projection of Admiral Tryden. All look out through the viewing window, at the surrounded Loyalist ship.

LEIA: Admiral, that thing had best be for show (referring to the Coda’s cannon). My son’s aboard that ship.

TRYDEN: A display of strength only, Chancellor.

SUNN: (from a console below) We’re receiving a response.

CHANCELLOR: Finally. Put them onscreen.

The viewing window fills with an image of Soryn on her own bridge. At the same moment, a set of rear doors opens and Rey and Finn enter the Sovereign’s bridge with several Peacekeepers and Cal. They are not in custody, but it’s also clear they are not going to be let out of sight, or weapons’ range. Finn is without his armour and wears his Erudan clothes once more, while Rey has neither spear nor blaster. Cal halts them below the command station, where all watch and wait.

LEIA: I assume I’m speaking to Commander Soryn?

SORYN: That’s correct. And you, Chancellor, good to see you again.

LEIA: I’d rather see my son, make sure he’s alright.

SORYN: You’ll see him, once you agree to my terms.

Han grips the railing of the command station with both hands, losing patience.

HAN: (muttering to himself) Terms… (then louder, to Soryn) Listen, you. What are you hoping to gain here? We’ve got every cannon in the fleet trained on you, so if you even think about jumping to hyperspace-

SORYN: An empty threat, since I have your son onboard.

Leia holds up a hand as Han seethes.

LEIA: (to Soryn) Where is Ben? Show him to us.

A moment passes, and Soryn presses a panel on her gauntlet. The screen switches to an overhead view of Ben, in the airlock where we last saw him. He is struggling to breathe. Shots back on the Sovereign’s bridge skip from Leia to Han, to Tryden’s hologram, to Rey and Finn, as the sound of Ben’s laboured breathing fills the bridge.

LEIA: (to Soryn) What is it you want?

The screen cuts back to Soryn.

SORYN: The data chip, and safe passage for me and my people. In exchange, I’ll jettison the escape pod he’s in. Failing that, or make any attempt to rescue him, and I will open the airlock instead.

TRYDEN: (to himself) God damn it.

Han’s eyes are wild with rage. His teeth are gritted and his fists clenched.

HAN: Listen, kid. There is no way we’re going to let you have the necklace. The best you’re going to get is away, emptyhanded, and I don’t think your superiors are going to welcome you back like that. So, you may as well give us Ben and surrender.

SORYN: (interrupting) Your son has ten minutes of air left. My terms are the data chip, and safe passage. Make your decision.

With that, the screen switches back to window-mode and a view of the Alliance, still penned in with all guns trained on her. Han slams a console with his hand.

TRYDEN: What would you have us do, Chancellor?

HAN: What’s to decide? Send a strike team; we go get him back! I’ll lead it myself-

LEIA: Han! You know we can’t do that. They will kill our son.

As they break into an argument, Cal steps forward.

CAL: Chancellor. These are the individuals who retrieved the data chip, as ordered.

Han and Leia turn to look down on Rey and Finn.

LEIA: You have it then? You’ve brought it back?

Finn holds out the necklace and relief floods Leia’s face.

LEIA: Thank the Force. At least now we know Luke’s temple’s safe.

Han now descends the command station’s steps towards them.

HAN: So who’s Rey and who’s Finn?

Rey and Finn look at each other.

REY: I’m Rey, and that’s-

FINN: -I’m Finn. That’s Rey.

Han holds out his hand for the necklace, which Finn relinquishes. Han’s fist tightens round it. With his free hand, he then shakes each of theirs roughly.

HAN: Hi, I’m Han Solo, nice to meet you. And this is…

He indicates Leia.

HAN: (to Finn) Well, you remember the Chancellor.

Without warning, he punches Finn square in the jaw. Finn goes down hard in shock, bleeding from the lip and staring wide-eyed up at Han Solo.

REY: What the-

HAN: That’s for trying to kill my wife.

Rey helps a furious Finn to his feet while Han glares down at him.

LEIA: Han.

Finn is up, wiping blood from his lip with fists clenched.

HAN: You’re lucky I don’t blast you out a goddamn airlock-

LEIA: Han! Leave him alone.

Cal has moved to Han’s side, and Rey and Finn stare them down. A number of bridge soldiers have also turned from their stations, hands on their holsters, ready to turn them on Finn or Rey if things turn ugly. A moment passes.

FINN: If I may have permission to speak, sir.

REY: Look, he’s brought your ‘data chip’ back, doesn’t that-

HAN: (to Rey) No it damn well doesn’t! The way I see it, it’s his fault we even needed to get that thing back in the first place.

He holds up the necklace, still clasped in the hand he used to punch Finn. His knuckles are bloody and already swelling.

HAN: (to Finn) And now my son’s being held hostage over there, and it’s all thanks to you.

He turns and climbs back to the command station.

HAN: Admiral, how long does my son have left to live?

At that, Finn steps forward, but he’s blocked at the steps by Cal.

FINN: (shouting up to Leia and Han) Look, I know I’ve done bad things! But let me make up for them.

LEIA: (after a silence) How?

FINN: Let… Give her me in exchange for Ben. With the necklace.

TRYDEN: Is this one out of his mind?

FINN: Not that necklace!

He holds out his hand. From the emitter in his palm, he projects a near-perfect replica of the necklace. Once his fingers curl around it, it is difficult to tell the thing isn’t solid.

FINN: It won’t fool her for a second once I’m on board. But it might get your son back.

REY: Finn…

FINN: Rey, I’ve got to do this.

REY: No, Finn-

FINN: It’s my choice. And I’m choosing to do the right thing.

Helpless, Rey looks to Han and Leia.

REY: You know they’ll kill him if you send him there.

HAN: Fine by me.

LEIA: She has a point, Han. We’d be abetting an execution.

TRYDEN: Chancellor, need I remind you we wouldn’t just be letting this criminal go, but all those on that cruiser as well. The number of deaths they’ve caused today alone-

LEIA: I know! Admiral, I know the numbers. I read every report myself and remember all the goddamn names. I know how many are dead thanks to these people. But my son is over there and he is NOT going to be added to that list, do you understand me?

A pause, then:

LEIA: Young man. Lieutenant, is it?

FINN: Yes, ma’am.

LEIA: Know this: you are not in custody here, nor are you under any kind of duress. At this time, you’ve cooperated to the point of retrieving the data chip, and that alone is cause for leniency. If you do this however, do you believe there’s a good chance you’ll be killed?

FINN: I don’t know, ma’am. Loyalists are trained to self-terminate if we’re captured. They’ve never had a traitor return before.

REY: Chancellor, please-

LEIA: (holding up a hand) It’s his decision. I can’t say any more than I have. Lieutenant, please note you’re to be commended for what you’re about to do. Your contribution here will be put on record.

FINN: Thank you, ma’am. But don’t. I’ve done plenty of things not on record, and one act like this isn’t going to wipe them all out.

LEIA: (after a pause, to Commander Sunn) Get that woman back on screen.

Transition to a corridor. Cal and a Peacekeeper flank Finn on the way to an escape pod, but he is neither cuffed nor held at gunpoint. Rey walks beside him. They halt at the pod door.

CAL: (to Finn) Good luck, Lieutenant.

Cal gives a cautious salute and then backs off to a respectful distance, leaving Rey and Finn to speak. After a moment, Rey throws her arms around Finn.

REY: (her head on his shoulder) Don’t do this.

FINN: I have to.

REY: No. What you said in the Core. What you said to me-

FINN: You’re good. Now’s my chance to be.

She releases him slowly, tears filling her eyes with no move on her part to brush them away. His own glisten too.

REY: I…

FINN: I know. I know.

Slowly, they unclasp hands and Finn turns into the escape pod.

An external shot shows the pod released in a hiss of steam. Thrusters power it towards the Alliance. The Alliance itself ejects a similar pod, which spins as it delivers Ben into space. The two pods cross in mid-flight, and we see from Finn’s perspective as Ben’s passes overhead.

On the Sovereign, Rey runs down the corridor until, finding a window, she watches Finn’s pod drop away, growing smaller. In the pod itself, Finn likewise doesn’t take his eyes off the Sovereign.

Eventually, a small screen flicks on in Finn’s ‘cockpit’, displaying Soryn.

SORYN: You have the necklace?

Finn holds out his simulacrum, and Soryn nods.

As soon as Finn is within tractor range, the Alliance locks a beam and pulls him into its hangar bay. Then the ship burns its engines and jumps to hyperspace.

Cut back to the Sovereign. We’re in a stark white medical bay now. Ben sits on a med-table, attended by droids and breathing from an air mask. From behind, we see the bay doors open, and Leia and Han rush to their son. They embrace him tightly.

LEIA: Thank the Force. You’re safe.

Ben returns the embrace while one hand still clutches the mask.

HAN: You wait until I get my hands on that ship. Believe me, this ain’t over-

BEN: No, it’s not dad.

LEIA: What do you mean?

BEN: It’s not over. The Loyalists are preparing to attack Ach To.

He stops to cough and breathes hard from the mask again.

BEN: They don’t need the data chip anymore. They only wanted it so that you couldn’t follow them. Soryn, their commander… (breathing) …she knows where the temple is. Or she’ll work it out soon. She managed to break into my memories of Ach To’s stars… (breathing) She’ll match them to imperial charts…

Ben is overcome with a coughing fit and med-droids swoop in to attend him. Leia and Han, still holding their son, look to each other.

LEIA: Then this is it. We’re going to war.

END OF SCENE XVIII


	19. The Fleets Assemble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two powerful forces prepare to battle for the fate of Luke Skywalker and his Jedi temple. But there are some dangerous secrets about to come out.

SCENE XIX: The Fleets Assemble

As of now, we move into the film’s final act. Scene beats play out back-to-back, as the Loyalist and Republic fleets prepare for battle.

FIRST BEAT: The Weaponship

The Alliance bursts from hyperspace into a fly-by of Jaran’s sun, where the Loyalist fleet is assembling. One by one, the iconic arrowhead shapes of Star Destroyers pop in, dark against the sun’s molten surface, forming up around the ring-shaped COMMAND-SHIP ROTUNDA. The camera follows the cruiser. As it nears the fleet, we see a weapons test is taking place alongside. A menacing vessel passes in silhouette across the camera. It is spiderlike. Massive limbs are folded beneath it, but spread slowly as it approaches an asteroid in orbit of the sun.

Cut to the Rotunda. Here, the Loyalist command staff is arrayed in a viewing corridor on the ring-ship’s outer edge. All shade their eyes against Jaran’s sun, which fills the windows. Outside, the Weaponship’s arms deploy fully, and the vessel pitches towards the asteroid. We don’t see what happens, but a view inward through the windows shows the observers’ faces lit by flashes of red and white light. They applaud, and in the window’s reflection we just make out the image of a massive detonation in space.

We see the aftermath from Finn’s point of view. A cut to him shows him hunched by a window in his escape pod prison, as the Alliance flies them past the destruction. Nothing remains of the asteroid but debris, chunks of which scrape the pod’s window. Finn too shields his eyes against the sun.

A moment later his pod darkens. Muffled ‘clunks’ suggest the Alliance has docked. Finn is knocked around as the pod is jettisoned, and the wall he’s slumped against then opens. He tumbles to the deck of the Rotunda’s docking bay surrounded by Loyalists.

Arms grip him, haul him upright. Blasters press his back and temples and he is dragged from the pod and thrown at Soryn’s feet. His former commander, helmet off, smiles down at him.

SORYN: Welcome back, FN.

Finn looks around him at the dozens of Loyalists pointing their blasters at him.

FINN: It’s like I never left.

SECOND BEAT: The Republic fleet

Transition to a wardroom, stark and white and well-lit aboard the Sovereign. We see first through its rear window – the Republic fleet, forming up above Eruda – before retreating into the room itself. Here we see Leia, at the head of a council table, her fleet commanders at attention around it. Han is there too at her shoulder, as are Admiral Tryden and Commander Sunn.

LEIA: They’re resourceful. They use unconventional tactics, and they’re ready to kill themselves if it means taking us down with them. But this Republic’s beaten worse. We have the best pilots; the best ships. We have the Sovereign and the Coda. From what we’ve seen, they have technology three decades out of date. We can beat them.

TRYDEN: We’ll have the numbers too, Chancellor. I’ve contacted Senator Akbar for reinforcements.

LEIA: No, we don’t have time to wait for them.

A silence, then:

SUNN: Chancellor…

LEIA: I note all your objections, and trust me I will bear responsibility. But we don’t have time. By now, they will have realised we can follow them to Ach To, which means their only hope is to beat us there. People, I’m afraid we do this with the ships we have here, and we do it now.

She lets her words linger. Officers exchange glances, but no words are spoken. All ultimately trust in Leia.

LEIA: Are there any other objections?

There are none.

LEIA: You have your orders then. Make our ships and our soldiers battle-ready within the hour. Good luck.

All begin exiting the wardroom. When they’re out of earshot, Han speaks quietly to Leia.

HAN: Are you sure about this?

LEIA: No. I’m not sure at all. I’m afraid we’ve underestimated these people. I’m afraid for Luke…

HAN: …and you’re afraid we’re about to reveal where his temple is to our whole fleet.

LEIA: The whole point. The whole point in keeping it hidden was to keep those young Jedi out of reach of people who would use them. You remember how Tryden objected ten years ago? He almost had half the senate convinced we should train those children up as mercenaries.

HAN: Well, maybe better that than have them all wiped out.

LEIA: Is it? One Jedi, Han. One Jedi gone bad is enough to bring down everything we fought to build. My father’s proof of that.

THIRD BEAT: The Stealth

From there, we segue into a slick one-shot:

The participants in the briefing have by now left the wardroom. The last to exit is Tryden, who shoulders through the doorway, helmet underarm, cloak swishing. We follow him a way as he marches, along a walkway suspended over a cavernous hangar bay, where soldiers fix up and pile into their fighters. A pilot salutes as his C.O. passes, then shimmies down a ladder to the hangar deck. He makes for his fighter, along the way passing an astromech unit, which sweeps along the deck and under a fighter until it’s lifted into a hull. The fighter’s cockpit closes as the droid’s head pops up top; then the Peacekeeper inside launches, skims low over the heads of fellow soldiers, other still-grounded fighters, and finally out through the gaping hangar doors. Ray shields flash as they admit him.

We then follow the fighter through space, as it cruises close to the Sovereign’s outer hull before breaking away. In one swooping shot we see the entirety of the Republic fleet unfold over Eruda. It is small: just the Coda, a handful of Mon Calamari Peaceships, each with token complements of X-Wings. Enough? Time will tell. The shot then plunges closer and through the ships’ ranks and we see more, at least, heading up from the surface of Eruda; territorial-class defence ships only, not built for full-scale combat, but the best the Republic can hope for on short notice. We tail one of these all the way back up to the Sovereign, banking under the Coda’s huge cannon, and again skim the flagship’s hull before homing in on the familiar sleek shape of the Stealth. It is docked still, not in a hangar bay but adjoining the outer body of the Sovereign via external docking port. Finishing the shot, we pan right through a side window in this vessel, to where Rey sits with knees up on a cot in the ship’s midsection, staring out this same window and clutching something in her arms.

Beyond her, through the glass of the airlock, we see soldiers hurrying by, blasters in hand with helmets underarm. She is not looking at them however. Her face is lit by the reflected glow from Eruda’s surface, and her eyes are wide, unblinking, and full of the planet’s swirling oceans.

At that moment, the airlock door slides open, but seemingly no one walks through it. Rey hears however and swipes a quick hand across her eyes, at the same time burying what she holds under the cot’s pillow. She turns around, swings her legs off the cot… But we see the intruder is no more than BB-8. He beeps as he approaches her feet with caution.

REY: Just you, little guy?

A beep.

REY: Guess you’ve decided I’m not going to eat you.

The droid pitches back and forth.

REY: I wasn’t… It was just…

As though following BB-8’s ‘gaze’ to the pillow, she brings out the item she hid. It is Finn’s helmet. The rest of his armour is scattered about the room, where he presumably shed or was made to shed it before being taken aboard the Sovereign.

REY: It’s not what you think.

A blink of the droid’s ‘eye-shutter’ in response.

REY: I just… It’s hard. I don’t know how to stop losing people.

At that, Rey can’t keep it together anymore. Tears start spilling from her eyes and she squeezes them shut to stop them.

REY: Great, crying in front of a droid. You’ll never be afraid of me again now, will you?

She tries baring her teeth at the little droid, but just ends up laughing through her teeth as a few more tears slip down her face.

REY: Well thanks for listening.

She goes to put the helmet aside, but at the last moment stops.

REY: He… downloaded something into this, didn’t he. What do you think?

Slowly, tentatively, Rey lifts the helmet and slides it over her head. We see through her eyes as the visor drops down and shades the view beyond the window in red: Eruda, a sliver of moon, the fleet with fighters scurrying insect-like around it.

She pulls on one of Finn’s gauntlets too, still from her PoV. Then she begins manipulating the glove, touches her fingers together, flexes the palm. The visor’s display activates and symbols flow across the screen. A close shot of her actual eyes, inside the visor and similarly tinted red, now shows them darting back and forth as she tries to make sense of it all. Looking back to her wrist, she flips up a panel and begins tinkering. We get a sense she’s just feeling her way at first, but soon her natural aptitude kicks in. She cycles through the suit’s multitude of functions, searching its memory. BB-8, now up on the cot with her, watches with curiosity.

FOURTH BEAT: The most famous hunk of junk…

The shot wipes in a shower of sparks, spraying from the blowtorch of a pretty young mechanic-come-pilot as she works on the engine of an unseen ship. We’ll call her KIYA.

CAL: I mean, I know he’s practically a war hero… but is it really necessary to salute him?

KIYA: I don’t know. Not saluting a superior officer? Isn’t that a court-martial?

She looks round at Cal; nods towards something behind him. Cal turns to see none other than R2D2 rolling through the hangar between X-Wings, as though inspecting them.

CAL: Oh …Force.

He salutes.

CAL: Sir!

Kiya bursts out laughing, and Cal realises too late he’s been had. We then hear Ben’s voice.

BEN: Better to be safe. That droid’s more decorated than you’ll ever be.

Cal’s face breaks from mortification to delight when he sees Ben laughing some distance away with X-33. He sprints over and hugs his friend. X-33 joins in one-armed (her blaster has yet to be replaced), and the three break apart only as Ben winces from the pain in his side.

BEN: Sorry. Still have some healing to do.

CAL: (looking X-33 up and down) Yeah, you’re not the only one.

A full body shot shows us that X-33 not only still lacks an arm, but her legs are mismatched both with the rest of her and each other.

X-33: Alright, this was all they had, for now. Just wait until I get a new blaster arm.

The three share a moment’s comfortable silence.

CAL: So… can we meet her? Properly?

BEN: (sheepishly) Yeah, come on.

We pull the shot back, and see that the ship they are standing next to is none other than the most famous hunk of junk in all the galaxy: the Millennium Falcon. And she hasn’t aged a day.

Cut to interior.

Why mess with a time-honoured design? The OT didn’t break her, so there’s nothing to fix, short of a fresh lick of paint. The trio moves excitedly through its corridors to the bridge, racing each other. X-33 pulls ahead despite her temporary legs.

CAL: No! Come on, I’ve never even-

They are all making for the pilot’s seat, but just as they’re fighting to sit in it, we see Han Solo enter behind them.

HAN: Hey!

All three freeze. Ben clutches his side again and the other two regret not acting their age in front of the war veteran.

X-33: General, sir.

CAL: Just warming her up for you, General.

HAN: Yeah? How about the two of you give me and my son some space here.

Cal and X-33 depart. Han then approaches the chair and, with one hand on its back, turns it casually towards Ben.

BEN: Do you…? No…

Han says nothing; just cocks his head, and Ben, nervously, reverently, lowers himself into the chair. At first, he can do nothing but feel the gravity of the moment. Then he leans towards the controls. The chair squeaks loudly.

HAN: Okay, well she could use some oiling, but…

BEN: I… remember when you first took me up in this old thing.

HAN: Firstly, she’s a she, so watch your manners. Secondly, she’s old but she’s battle-proven. I mean come on, two Death Stars under her belt to name a few. The Republic’s still not built anything like her for speed… So, what do you say? Take her into battle for me?

Ben is speechless.

BEN: Dad, are you sure?

HAN: Honestly, you’d be doing me a favour. I’d feel a whole lot better knowing-

BEN: That she’s in safe hands, yeah.

HAN: Are you kidding? It’s about knowing you’re in safe hands. I trust her with your life. And that’s saying something.

Without looking at each other, staring instead out of the cockpit, beyond which the open hangar bay gives onto only stars, they contemplate what lies ahead.

HAN: Now, between you and me, don’t go using her to pick up girls. Remember, twins run in your mother’s family.

BEN: (rolling his eyes) Thanks, dad.

HAN: Okay, now get out so I can fix that chair.

Ben does so, and leaves the Falcon. He hesitates in the hangar, then makes up his mind and heads off in a hurry. Around him, more and more X-Wings are being cleared for take-off, their pilots climbing aboard. In minutes, the fleet will head into battle.

FIFTH BEAT: The plans

We re-join Rey, still in the Stealth’s midsection, still wearing Finn’s helmet. We see again through her eyes, and by now she has gotten to grips with the suit. We see her access a scanning, or targeting system; as she swings her head from side to side, outlines flicker across pieces of furniture, objects, BB-8, displaying data like structural integrity, energy signatures etc. Rey swings around and a target blinks over a human chest.

BEN: Woah! Hey! Hey, don’t… don’t shoot.

A wide shot shows Rey, now geared out in Finn’s full exo-suit, blasters raised and pointed at Ben. BB-8, between them, whistles enthusiastically.

REY: Sorry.

She lowers her gauntlets. Ben grasps his injured side again, leaning against the airlock for support.

BEN: No, sorry, my bad. I didn’t realise you were…

REY: …just practicing.

She sits, still looking through her visor, still scrolling through files. She has yet to find what she’s looking for. Ben begins staring awkwardly, past her, out of the window.

REY: Did you…

BEN: What? Sorry, yeah, I’m finding it hard to…

He starts to pace, changes his mind, turns and pauses in the middle of the room. From his point of view, Rey is staring into space, though we see she is still searching files.

BEN: Look, about your friend. The Lieutenant?

REY: Finn.

BEN: Right, Finn. Force, I didn’t even learn his name.

He pauses.

BEN: Look, I’m sorry for what happened. And for my part in it. If I hadn’t gotten captured, he wouldn’t have had to…

Rey doesn’t respond.

BEN: And I mean, I don’t even know if I deserve… No, I do know. And I don’t deserve it. I was an idiot to him, when we took you both on board the Sentinel. He’s a better man than me.

Rey still doesn’t answer.

BEN: So, what I’m trying to say, again, is I’m sorry. I’m guessing he meant something to you.

REY: It’s okay…

BEN: Thanks, but it’s-

At this point, Rey goes rigid. Our view switches so we see what she sees. She has finally accessed the file Finn downloaded from the Core. And what she sees is disturbing. Across her visor, obscuring Ben’s red-tinted face, a simple, geometric image appears: a circle, rendered concave, dish-shaped; pulling back we see the iconic weapon, depressed into the body of a sphere that, to scale, would be the size of a small moon. Rey has found the plans for a Death Star. A Republic Death Star.

She gets up, so suddenly that Ben steps back.

BEN: Are you alright?

REY: No. Where’s your mother?

The music rises in urgency and we cut back to the wardroom. Leia and Han stand at the table’s head again, the seats being occupied by holograms of the fleet commanders, all of whom are now on their ships’ bridges. Ben hurries in, followed by Rey still wearing the Loyalist armour. Her appearance startles those that see, as she and Ben approach Leia.

LEIA: Ben, what are you-

BEN: I’m sorry, mom, dad. Rey has something you need to see.

Rey, removing her helmet, holds out a gauntleted palm. From its emitter, an image of the plans is projected.

Leia takes one look, then her eyes search out Admiral Tryden.

LEIA: Explain.

Tryden remains silent.

LEIA: Explain this now, Reev-

TRYDEN: Might I suggest we speak one-to-one.

For a moment, Leia stares the admiral down. Then she taps a control panel on the desktop and all but his hologram disappear.

TRYDEN: Those plans were kept for tactical purposes. Surely you see why the Republic couldn’t just-

LEIA: There were modifications, Tryden. Do you think I don’t remember the Empire’s Death Stars? I was there when we blasted the last two to hell!

HAN: (leaning towards Tryden’s image) You son of a-

LEIA: Another Death Star? As if I thought you’d really given up on the old ways. Well, I guess once a traitor. I’m stripping you of rank and command. With my authority as Chancellor-

TRYDEN: I wouldn’t if I were you, Chancellor. Not now. Not with things balanced so precariously for you in the Senate.

LEIA: (after a heavy pause) Are you threatening-

TRYDEN: It was not my decision alone to keep those plans on record. Almost half the Senate, at last count, the half that as you know believe the New Republic is leaving itself too open, too unprotected; that half agrees on the need to militarise.

LEIA: (sceptical) Almost half?

TRYDEN: And growing. As are our enemies, Chancellor, you must know that. These Loyalists aren’t the only ex-Empire faction that poses a threat. The Kaminoan Supremacy, the Outer Rim Alliance, to name a few. Any, or worse all of them together, could tear down this peace we’ve built, if we lack the strength to maintain order.

The room is silent for a moment. Rey and Ben exchange looks, Han and Ben, Leia and the admiral.

LEIA: Order. I’m old enough to remember what that kind of order looks like. NOT on my watch! Not again.

Leia terminates the link before Tryden can respond. She slams the table with a fist and turns to the window, to the fleet outside.

HAN: (after a long moment) You’re right. Of course, you’re right. But was now the time to-

LEIA: It’s the time. It’s always the time to remove people like him. I will not give that man access to Ach To.

Leia turns to Rey and Ben.

LEIA: Thank you for bringing that to my attention. It’s Rey, isn’t it?

REY: Yes. Yes, ma’am.

LEIA: X-33 tells me you can handle a gun turret.

Rey nods.

LEIA: If you want to get to one and help out, we’ll be grateful for the extra hand.

Rey looks from Ben, to Han and back to Leia, unsure how to formally respond. She opts for an awkward salute.

REY: Thank you, ma’am.

With a nod to Rey, Leia removes the necklace from around her throat and places it on the desktop. A panel scans it and she speaks into a comm.

LEIA: This is Chancellor Organa. I’m sending these coordinates to every commander in the fleet. Are you ready to depart?

Cuts from bridge to bridge show each C.O. receiving and acknowledging the message. All are standing by.

We cut at last to a shot of the whole fleet. Almost in sync, every ship bar the Coda powers its engines and leaps into hyperspace.

FINAL BEAT: Scars

We transition finally to Jaran’s sun again. The Loyalist fleet is primed and ready to go. As with the Republic fleet, the Loyalists engage hyperdrives and power away from the system. We cut to on board the Rotunda, where we see Finn strapped to an interrogation chair. The lights of hyperspace flash from the windows across his face and body. Through his eyes, we see Soryn enter, approach him, look him over critically.

SORYN: I like a man with scars.

Close up on his face, and with every flash from the windows, we see Finn has been beaten and tortured. Worse, his temple implant looks to have been forcibly removed. It lies on a surgical table beside him, bloodied like the side of his face. His eyes are glazed, but still glare daggers at Soryn.

SORYN: Waste not…

She says this to herself, picking up and examining the bloodied trophy. She replaces it with a clang, next to other such implants: the emitters, gouged from his palms among them.

SORYN: Any final words, FN? Anything about your new friends, before we eliminate them?

FINN: (his voice hoarse) They’re coming for you. They’ll stop you.

SORYN: If we die, we die. But we’ll see Skywalker’s temple burn first.

FINN: What… What is the POINT, Soryn? (shouting) Why do you even care? Is he anything to you? Really? An old man on the edge of nowhere, some monk…

Soryn doesn’t answer, but in the flashing lights we see a deep, unsettling hate in her features, just briefly before she masks it again.

She turns back suddenly to Finn, wrist-blaster raised and powered, white-hot.

SORYN: Last chance, FN.

FINN: For gods’ sakes, Soryn, it’s not the damn Jedi you need to worry about! I know! I saw with my own goddamn eyes what they’re building. The Republic. They’re going to wipe out every last one of us. But I… (he starts laughing) Only I can tell you what it is, and where they’re building it. That’s where you should be taking this fleet, not to Skywalker.

Soryn appears to contemplate this. She doesn’t lower her blaster, but powers it down. Very slowly, she approaches Finn in the intermittent dark, leans in very close to his face.

SORYN: Why would I need you to tell me? When I can take everything I want, as easily as…

With her hand still outstretched, Soryn seizes Finn in a Force grip. He is pressed back into the chair, every muscle clenched in pain as she exerts her will over him. His eyes squeeze shut; fresh blood trickles from his temple.

SORYN: …later.

She drops her hand. Finn jolts forward in his restraints, breathing hard.

SORYN: After we’ve destroyed Skywalker. Then I’ll be back for more.

With that, Soryn leans right in and kisses Finn’s bloody cheek. She leaves him bound, bleeding and helpless, as the fleet powers on towards Ach To.

END OF SCENE XIX


	20. Battle Over Ach To (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes to a head now, as New Republic and Loyalist fleets clash over Ach To, with deadly consequences for both sides.

SCENE XX: Battle Over Ach To (Part I)

The Sovereign shoots at FTL straight for camera, then bursts into normal space with its fleet in tow. Smaller ships pop in to surround it until the screen is filled with them. Then the camera swings round to reveal ACH TO. It is turquoise-blue, swirling with cloud like a misty marble.

On the Sovereign’s bridge, beneath dim battle lighting, Leia sits in command with Han beside her. For a moment, she absorbs the beauty of a planet she’s seen just once before.

LEIA: (to the bridge crew) Begin scanning for Loyalist ships.

The crew scrambles to respond.

SUNN: None yet, Chancellor.

LEIA: They’re here. I can sense them.

Cut to the hangar bay. By this time many fighters have already launched, but some stay grounded in reserve. Ach To’s glowing surface fills the hangar opening, and what Peacekeepers remain watch it slip by. There is no dialogue, but tension shows in their faces, their tapping feet and flexing fingers.

Cut to the Falcon. Ben awkwardly helms the old ship, his hands not quite steady on the controls. Carefully, he guides it out to join the fighter fleet, with Ach To bright and massive in his window. He is silhouetted against it, dwarfed and overwhelmed still by the planet where he trained his youth away. Remembering suddenly, he fishes around in a pocket, produces and kisses a small talisman, before hanging it in the cockpit window next to Han’s dice. It is the necklace we saw briefly in the visions Soryn stole from him.

Cut to the Stealth. We see Rey in the ventral turret again, and her eyes reflect the planet’s green. Beneath her, through the turret’s glass floor, the other ships slip by. She sits with hands poised on her gun’s triggers, scope trained on the line where Ach To’s curve meets the black of space.

Back on the Sovereign’s bridge, the viewscreen fills our shot. Suddenly, a single point of light, bigger and brighter than a star, creeps around Ach To’s edge.

LEIA: (pointing) There.

Alarms blare. Bridge officers man their stations. On the viewscreen, that first point of light is joined by more. Soon a squadron of them is massing in high orbit over Ach To.

HAN: My god, look at them.

And still they appear. Behind the fleet, a Star Destroyer’s prow noses into view. A second follows, but even that isn’t the last of them. In seconds, it’s hard to tell what are stars and which interlopers, but one thing is certain: the fleet the Loyalists have mobilised is large. They outnumber the Republic.

LEIA: All hands this is the Chancellor. Enemy sighted. Prepare to engage.

Battle music rises under claxons. We cut now throughout the Sovereign, to soldiers swivelling their gun turrets, reserve pilots leaping to their fighters, sealing their cockpits with a hiss. Across the fleet, other C.O.s relay Leia’s orders to their crews. The approaching Jaran fleet fills all their viewscreens.

In space, the X-Wing vanguard forms a battle line, their engines splitting one by one into their signature attack configuration. The pilots power their instruments, thumb their triggers. All breathe through their nerves as the Loyalist fleet advances across space.

Cut to Ben in the Falcon. He takes a deep breath. Then, from his cockpit we sweep outwards, past the swinging talismans, towards the Loyalist fleet, through their ranked TIE fighters, through the forward window of the Rotunda itself. Here, General Pryre is seated in command with Soryn on her left. From over the General’s shoulder, we see back to the distant Republic fleet.

SORYN: Soryn to Destroyer One, maintain orbit and scan for Skywalker’s temple.

PRYRE: TIE attack fleet, form up and engage.

As one, the TIEs burn their engines and speed for the Republic fleet. Across space, the X-Wing squadrons do the same.

Here we go. Cue space battle music and crank to full.

FIRST BEAT: Forces collide

The opening exchange is quick and brutal. Both sides power towards each other cannons blazing, and turn space into a maelstrom between them. Neither gains the upper hand. Both blast dozens of the other’s fighters from the battle, until each forces a squadron out through the melee, and powers it towards the enemy’s parent fleet.

RED LEADER: Black leader, this is Red Leader. I’m going after their command ship.

BLACK LEADER: Copy, Red Leader. Black Squadron, tail the enemy. Protect the Sovereign.

The enemy squadrons diverge, attack lines speeding apart with defenders on their tails. On the Loyalist side, the Republic’s RED SQUADRON soon has the Rotunda in its scopes.

RED LEADER: Red Squadron, fire and retreat. We have no idea what defences this thing has.

The squadron dives and opens fire. On the Rotunda’s bridge, a stream of shots smashes blindingly against the shields beyond the viewing window. Pryre, Soryn and the bridge crew all lower their arms from across their eyes.

SORYN: (to Pryre) Conservative.

PRYRE: Indeed. (into a comm) Point defence cannons, response fire.

In space, Red Squadron dives in for another attack, and the Rotunda’s gun batteries let all hell loose on them.

Cut back to the Sovereign. Here, Leia and Han watch as the first wave of Loyalist TIEs sweeps towards the viewscreen.

LEIA: Fleet Commanders, fire at will.

The TIEs engage, and a storm of green blaster fire rains to meet them. The TIEs hold their line however, steering right into the storm. Hulls are fractured, ion thrusters blasted loose, but still the TIEs don’t swerve, and all too late the Republic sees their game.

MON CALAMARI CAPTAIN: Suicide tactics! Brace for-

Impacts rock the bridges of all Mon Calamari Peaceships. Outside, TIEs explode against their shields, chunks of hull and engine careening over them as they barely take the assault. Across one captain’s viewscreen, his shields flicker and fail.

MON CALAMARI CAPTAIN: Sovereign, come in! Shields down! Repeat, our shields are-

He doesn’t finish. On the Sovereign’s bridge, his comm signal cuts out, and through the flagship’s viewscreen, we see the first of the Mon Calamari cruisers list and break apart silently in space. At the command station, Leia’s hands tighten on her armrests. Han’s voice now broadcasts over the comm.

HAN: Solo to reserve, launch and engage!

SECOND BEAT: The Falcon flies again

Cut to Rey, in the Stealth’s ventral turret. She grips her gun triggers tightly as the Stealth uncouples from the Sovereign and jolts her in her seat.

CAL: (crackling over comm) Ready, ventral? We’re going into the fray.

REY: Ready… captain?

CAL: Just Cal will do!

G-force presses Rey back in her chair, as the Stealth accelerates to join the fleet. Through the glass floor of the turret, blaster fire streaks by with a familiar sight in its wake. The Falcon swoops suddenly underneath with guns blazing, outpacing the Stealth, taking a duo of TIEs down as they drive at a Peaceship with ramming speed. On the Sovereign, a cheer goes up at the sight of the famous ship, and Han punches the air with pride. The Falcon corkscrews past the viewscreen through a hail of return fire.

HAN: That’s my ship! My kid!

At the Falcon’s helm, Ben wipes sweat from his face. The lights of battle dance in his eyes.

BEN: (shouting into the comm) You ready, X?

We see X-33 manning the Falcon’s guns. She is still one-armed. One limb squeezes the trigger, while the other is wired at the stump, directly into the gun.

X-33: Just line me up!

CAL: (via comm) Got your back too, Ben! We’re covering you.

Together, the Falcon and the Stealth power over the hulls of the larger ships, blasting back the TIEs that rain down on them. We cut from Ben to Cal, X to Rey, as each makes shot after deadly shot.

THIRD BEAT: Sacrifice

Cut back to the Loyalist side.

The Rotunda’s shields ripple as they draw wave after wave of Republic fire. Beyond it, we see the first of two Star Destroyers turn its guns from the battle and aim for Ach To.

DESTROYER CAPTAIN: (via comm) Settlement detected, General.

PRYRE: Skywalker? Or indigenous?

DESTROYER CAPTAIN: (via comm) Sensors can’t tell. We’ve got life-signs in the hundreds though.

PRYRE: Level it.

The Destroyer powers its main cannon. With a flash of white light, an energy bolt surges towards the planet’s surface. Red Squadron is too late, and too far to intervene. We see the bolt disappear into Ach To’s atmosphere, then cut to the Sovereign’s bridge.

At her command station, as a TIE impact rocks the ship, Leia gasps and doubles over in her chair, chest clutched in anguish.

HAN: Leia?

LEIA: Those bastards.

HAN: What is it?

Another shock throws them all to the side and the Falcon streaks again past the forward window. But Leia seems deaf and blind to it all.

LEIA: Those bastards! They’re targeting the planet!

HAN: Luke.

LEIA: No. Innocents. Civilians.

She straightens and pushes a comm panel.

LEIA: Red Squadron this is Leia. Break off from that command ship! Repeat, break off! Target the Destroyer!

Cut to Red Leader, nodding to acknowledge the order. In a second, he banks the fleet and speeds for the Destroyer as it powers another shot.

Their weapons will have no effect against the Destroyer’s shields. They know it. But they have no other choice. As the second deadly shot fires, the squadron’s three foremost fighters pull their ships into line between it and the planet and intercept the blast between them. All three X-Wings are destroyed on impact. From their comrades’ cockpits, we see the plasma cloud bloom from the dying crafts, expanding and engulfing the Destroyer’s main cannon. It is ripped from the lower hull, taking a chunk of the ship’s ventral section with it. Destroyer One, at least, is crippled.

Back on the Rotunda, Pryre watches the severed cannon drift in flames from the main body of the ship.

PRYRE: (into the comm) Destroyer Two, disengage and maintain bombardment.

She turns to Soryn beside her.

PRYRE: If we lose that Destroyer, it’s all up to you. Can you finish this?

Soryn: Of course, General.

Saluting, she leaves the bridge at a run.

FOURTH BEAT: Rogues

The Republic fleet is now advancing en masse towards the Loyalists. The bridge is a hive of mixed emotions: regret for their losses so far; pride in their pilots as even now the Falcon and the Stealth, between them, tag-team down the final TIE to make it this far.

LEIA: Leia to all fleet commanders, fire on that remaining Destroyer as soon as we’re in range. We have to protect the planet.

In the Falcon, Ben hears the order through his earpiece.

BEN: Copy that, Chancellor.

Bracing with the g-force, Ben burns his engines to full and jets off ahead of the main fleet, straight towards Destroyer Two as it turns towards Ach To.

HAN: Ben, what are you doing?

BEN: Taking out that Destroyer as fast as possible. This ship’s the fastest we’ve got.

HAN: No, stay with the-

LEIA: (hand on Han’s arm) The Falcon’s taken down bigger, Han. (to Ben via the comm) Give it your best shot.

Ben’s already halfway there. Through the bridge viewscreen, Han and Leia watch the blue flash of the Falcon’s retreating engines.

Meanwhile, Rey is red-faced in the Stealth’s gun turret. Sweat plasters her hair to her forehead and her eyes narrow at the fleet as Cal draws them near. Though out of range, she swings her scope to the Rotunda; sees a familiar shape disengage from it under cover fire. It is Soryn’s Alliance cruiser.

REY: Cal, we need to break off.

CAL: Repeat that, ventral?

REY: Break off! A cruiser’s left the battle. We need to follow it.

CAL: You hit your head, girl? One cruiser’s not-

REY: Rey will do. And that cruiser’s heading for the temple!

CAL: (after a silence) How do you know?

REY: A feeling. Their commander’s on board. She’s launching a stealth attack with that cruiser!

CAL: (after a silence) Alright, I’m trusting you on this one. Rey. (into the comm) To’Renn to Blue Squadron, we’ve got a rogue cruiser heading for the planet. I need a contingent to tail it.

A pause, then the comm crackles back:

BLUE LEADER: I’ll give you all we can spare, Captain.

CAL: (to Rey) I hope to god you’re right about this.

While the fighter fleet keeps speeding towards the Loyalists, the Stealth drops out of formation, along with three other reserve X-Wings. Together they tail the Alliance, as it powers away from the battle towards Ach To.

Above, the Falcon is dancing with fire on three fronts. Light and shadow sweep Ben’s face as he pulls off move after move to close in on the second Destroyer.

BEN: X, do you see that?

She does. In her turret, the gynoid hauls her scope around, and lines it up with a weak point flickering on the Destroyer’s port shields.

X-33: I see it!

BEN: I’m taking us in. Please dear god punch a hole for me, or we’re-

X-33: Doing it!

She aims and squeezes down. At the last moment however, a shot from a TIE blasts off the top of her turret. Both X-33 and the gun module entire are torn out into space.

BEN: X!

Ben is still speeding for the Destroyer, and against all odds we see X-33 is too, carried by momentum in the Falcon’s wake. She’s intact, still clinging to the gun module by the stump of one arm, but out of control, spinning after the Falcon.

X-33: Ben, I’m alright! I can-

BEN: Force! Hold on, I’m coming-

X-33: No! Keep going, I can make the shot!

She doesn’t wait for an answer. Instead she powers the thrusters built into her new legs, steadies the module, steers it. Then she lines up the miracle of all shots. It connects moments before Ben would have smashed himself to pieces on the shield. Instead, laughing madly at the Falcon’s helm, he pilots clean through the new rift, into the belly of the beast.

We don’t see what he does inside. But as we cut back to the space battle, a view from a Red Squadron cockpit shows Destroyer Two’s shields falter. Flames erupt from its dorsal hull like spray from a cresting whale, and it breaks apart from the inside out. The Falcon shoots out moments later from its aft.

A cheer goes up on the Sovereign as officers crowd to surround the viewscreen. A shot from Han’s face to Leia’s shows us the pride and relief they feel for their son, and they clasp hands on the command chair’s arm.

LEIA: We’ve got them on the ropes now. (into the comm) Leia to the fleet, move in and surround their command ship. Let’s end this.

A final shot shows the fleet regrouping on her command, moving off towards the Loyalists with Ach To’s sun behind them. Both sides have taken heavy losses, bleeding fighters and losing several of their larger ships. But it’s clear the Republic now has the upper hand. They advance, while what remain of the Loyalist TIEs fall back to defend their command ship.

END OF SCENE XX


	21. Battle Over Ach To (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Battle for Ach To rages on, but Rey has a more personal score to settle.

SCENE XXI: Battle Over Ach To (Part II)

FIFTH BEAT: Breaking the Alliance

We pick up the battle in pursuit of the Alliance, which speeds towards Ach To’s lower hemisphere, for the line where night meets day. The Stealth powers after it alongside three fighters, but by now the Alliance has seen them. It opens fire from its aft cannons, taking one of the X-Wings down. The other two roll to evade.

CAL: Force, this was a bad idea!

Another volley comes for them. This time the fighters’ evasive rolls fail. Both are taken out of the chase, leaving the Stealth alone to tail the cruiser.

CAL: (to Rey) That’s enough! We can’t take that thing, not with our firepower! I’m pulling us out.

But as he hits the controls, the ship fails to respond. The panels under his hands flash, but not to his touch. Rather than pulling out of its pursuit, the Stealth actually accelerates after the Alliance. Cal’s eyes widen in shock.

CAL: Rey, I’m… I’m locked out, I can’t…

We see why. Behind him, Rey stands in the cockpit, fully suited. Through her visor, we see she has seized control of the ship from Cal, and is using the suit to pilot remotely. Seems she’s picked up a few tricks from Finn.

REY: It’s alright, I’ve got us.

Cal stares at her, stupefied.

CAL: Oh, sweet mother of Force! You’re mad. Insane!

REY: This is the only way! We pull up now and they kill every Jedi on that planet!

CAL: If we stay on course, we’ll be killed!

Through the cockpit, we see the Stealth gaining on the Alliance. Its sub-light thrusters roar as Rey pushes them as hard as they will go.

REY: Get a suit on. Quickly.

CAL: You’re mad. MAD!

REY: Do it now, Cal, I’ll explain as you go.

CAL: What do you even-

REY: You said yourself, we don’t have the firepower to take them. So we’re going to use their tactics against them.

Cut to the Alliance bridge. Soryn stands framed in the forward window. The glass glows hot as they graze Ach To’s atmosphere.

LOYALIST: Still one tailing us, Commander. They’re evading our fire.

SORYN: It doesn’t matter, they’re no match for us. Do we have coordinates?

LOYALIST: Confirmed, Commander. Life-signs in the lower latitudes. Numbers match our predictions.

SORYN: I feel them. Fire as soon as we’re in range. It’s time to kill a legend.

From the bridge, we pan back out through the rear window to the Stealth’s cockpit, where Cal is now suited beside Rey. Through her own suit, Rey inputs a final command to the ship to engage its autopilot. She and Cal then sprint for the cockpit’s airlock, as an external shot shows the Stealth on course to collide with the Alliance.

What happens next is shown in a series of quickfire cuts. The music cuts out, leaving only ambient sound.

First, the Stealth strikes the larger ship, at an angle, detonating on impact. Driving into the cruiser’s dorsal hull, it crumples from prow to stern and tears a breach three times its size.

Second, on the Alliance bridge, Soryn and every Loyalist on board is thrown hard against the wall. Sparks leap from consoles. Alarms blare.

Third, we see Finn for the first time this battle. Still strapped to the interrogation chair, he too feels the impact as the whole room tips on end. He is thrown sideways in his restraints, but held fast by them. Not so his guard: another Loyalist, who is slammed bodily against the window. Finn clenches his eyes shut, as the whole ship lurches around him.

Fourth, an exterior shot shows us what massive damage the Stealth has dealt. The Alliance founders as one engine then another bursts into flames. Red with the heat of re-entry, its remaining engines fire just in time, and it pulls out of its dive to hang listing in space.

Finally, the shot pulls back. We see Rey again, with Cal nearby, both floating in vacuum over the destruction. For a moment they hang there, thrusters burning, steadying themselves. Then, with Rey leading, they propel themselves towards the ship, and the hole the Stealth has made in it.

SIXTH BEAT: Faceoff

We draw back to the fleets. All fire has ceased for now as each side regroups, assesses its options. The Loyalists are on the backfoot now, with the Sovereign and two Mon Calamari Peaceships bearing down on them, while they have lost all but the Rotunda for major firepower. On the Sovereign, Leia orders a channel opened to the Loyalists.

LEIA: This is Chancellor Organa, to whoever commands your fleet.

All wait tensely for a response. On the viewscreen, we see the remaining TIEs swarm around the Rotunda like hornets. Leia tries again.

LEIA: Let’s discuss this face to face. We outgun you, but we’re willing to discuss your surrender.

On the Rotunda, Leia’s words echo through the ship’s comm. General Pryre is in her command chair surrounded by bridge officers. As the camera pans around her, she delicately rests an elbow on one arm of her seat, runs a finger over the panel beside her.

PRYRE: Pryre to Commander Soryn, report.

A cut to the lifeless, listing Alliance, plasma leaking from its hull. Pryre’s words play on repeat as we transition through the ruined bridge, over flaming consoles and pieces of fallen bulkhead. Bodies litter the deck, some stirring, others clearly dead. Among them all, Soryn climbs to her feet through the smoke.

Cut to the Sovereign’s bridge, to Leia and Han still waiting. Finally, Pryre’s voice comes through the comm.

PRYRE: You must know we’ll fight you to the last, Chancellor.

LEIA: Why? Why are you people so goddamn ready to give up your lives? To prove a point?

A pause, then:

PRYRE: (over the comm) Yes.

Cut back to the Rotunda, to Pryre still leaning over her comm, watched by all her bridge crew.

PRYRE: So long as your Republic won’t let us live any other way but yours, you force our hand.

LEIA: (from the comm) What is it you want? Independence? Planets to live on outside the Republic?

PRYRE: It’s too late.

Back to the Sovereign.

PRYRE: (through the comm) You forced us off our home worlds with your crusade. But know this, Chancellor Organa: we are far from all that’s left of the resistance. Once your Jedi are gone, we’ll take back what was lost.

From there we cut to the Alliance. Finn is still strapped to his chair, straining to free himself, coughing as smoke fills the room from a ruptured bulkhead. From the doorway, two Loyalists in full armour enter.

FINN: Hey! Hey, let me out of here! Don’t let me die here, you still need me!

While one stays in the doorway, wrist-blaster pointing out to the corridor, the other rushes to Finn’s side. Their visor disengages and we see Rey’s eyes through the gap.

REY: Damn right we do.

Finn can’t help but grin, though the swelling in his jaw warps it, makes him wince.

FINN: Rey… What in the hells…?

CAL: (from the door) Oh. Oh, you have got to be joking. We’re here for him?

FINN: Yeah, nice to see you too.

Ignoring Cal, Rey slices through Finn’s straps, one after the other with a wrist-blade.

FINN: I can’t believe… I can’t…

REY: I couldn’t leave you.

She frees his arm. Instantly he seizes hers and pulls her closer, looks directly into her eyes.

FINN: Rey, listen. This is personal to her…

REY: It’s alright…

FINN: …this Skywalker thing. I don’t know why, but…

Rey slices through the last strap and pulls Finn gently to his feet. The ship shudders at that moment and he staggers, but she supports him by the shoulders.

REY: It’s alright. We’re getting you out of here.

FINN: No. No, we’re not done! We’ve got to finish this.

CAL: The whole bloody ship’s coming apart! I think we’re done!

Finn is in no position to argue. He can barely stand, despite Rey holding him up.

REY: Can you…?

FINN: Yeah. Yeah I can. Just.

She glances at the body of the Loyalist, lying where he fell, half-obscured by steam rushing from the bulkhead.

REY: Then get that suit on.

SEVENTH BEAT: Final order

We cut back to the bridge of the Alliance, see that several Loyalists have found their feet again and are fighting for balance against the ship’s shaking. Soryn now staggers through the smoke towards a comm panel. She pulls her helmet off as she activates it and clutches a wound in her head.

SORYN: This is Soryn, General.

A pause, then:

PRYRE: (through the comm) Commander, status report. Is the temple destroyed?

Cut to the Rotunda. Pryre can see the Republic fleet massed beyond the bridge window, all weapons trained on her.

SORYN: (through the comm) Negative. The bastards rammed us. We’ve lost propulsion. Hull breaches, losing atmosphere. We’re dead in space.

We see Pryre’s eyes close.

SORYN: (through the comm) But… I can still reach Skywalker.

PRYRE: (eyes opening, light returning) Promise me you’ll finish this.

Cut to the Alliance, where Soryn’s remaining Loyalists are standing, checking their suits for damage.

SORYN: You have my word.

PRYRE: (through the comm) Force be with you.

Back to the Rotunda, Pryre terminates the link, straightens and addresses her crew.

PRYRE: General Pryre to all hands. Prepare for separation.

Back on the Sovereign’s bridge, a warning light flashes on Commander Sunn’s console.

SUNN: Detecting an energy surge from the command ship.

HAN: They’re going to fire?

LEIA: Shields to full!

All look to the viewscreen where, instead of firing, the Rotunda is changing shape. We see it from the belly up, see thrusters activate on the ring’s underside, while the arms linking the central command module to the ring’s inner edge disengage from it. Now in two halves, the Rotunda’s sections move apart. The outer ring lifts away, while the command module continues its metamorphosis. Arms curl to drag behind it, cephalopod-like, as it heads at speed for the Sovereign.

Back to the Sovereign.

HAN: What in the hell-

LEIA: Squadrons, intercept that ship! Repeat, intercept!

In space, the remaining X-Wings form a new battle line between the Sovereign and the Weaponship. TIEs likewise cluster, as the Weaponship’s ‘arms’ open and it advances towards the Republic fleet.

EIGHTH BEAT: Belly of the Beast

Cut away to the Alliance, to Rey, Cal and Finn. The latter is sealing his helmet, while Rey helps keep him upright. As his suit fills with atmosphere, we see him go tense.

REY: What? What is it?

FINN: I…

Switch to his perspective. Soryn’s voice crackles through the commlink in his helmet.

Quick-cut to the Alliance bridge. Soryn and half a dozen Loyalists are fully suited, checking their weapons. We see a hatch is open in the ceiling, and one by one the Loyalists climb to the bridge’s roof. Through the bridge’s forward windows, we see the ship pitch towards Ach To and into freefall.

Back to Finn.

FINN: Oh god. I can hear her. Soryn. She’s… She’s leading a jump-squad.

REY: What?

CAL: Oh, sweet Force…

FINN: I told you, she’s not done. She’s going to make a space jump to the surface, to kill Skywalker.

Cut back to the fleets.

The Sovereign and Peaceships open fire on the Weaponship; X-Wings move to engage, but the TIEs take every shot like ablative armour. The flagship cannons devastate, but the TIEs are too many, and even the Falcon can’t take out enough. In seconds the Weaponship is in range. Its arms fully deploy, curl forward, close around the flagship like a claw.

As it does, the last of the TIEs smash into the Sovereign’s shields. They ripple and crack, and the Weaponship’s arms do the rest. We cut between the Sovereign’s bridge and the Weaponship’s, from Leia and Han’s horrified faces, to Pryre resolute and grimacing. A fireball rises to engulf the General and her crew, and like that the Loyalist fleet command is wiped out.

But the damage is done. Slowly, the Weaponship’s arms slice into the Sovereign’s hull, which buckles, breaks and splits apart at the midsection. We see the Sovereign’s bridge staff fleeing; Han and Leia clasping hands, making for a closing blast door, as the bridge viewscreen itself crumples and cracks. In space, a fireball billows from the breach amidship, and consumes the Sovereign.

From the Falcon, Ben watches the destruction in horror. We see plumes of steam emerge, the hint of escape pods fleeing the wreck. But the flagship is lost, now just so much more debris spinning slowly in space.

A moment later we cut to the Alliance.

The cruiser is really going down now, pulled into Ach To’s gravity well. But as we zoom in, we see Soryn and her jump-troopers clinging like insects to the hull. Swinging through Soryn’s perspective, we see back towards the space battle, the growing pinpoint of light that was the Weaponship and the Sovereign. Then she launches backwards. The other troopers follow, push off the hull and power thrusters to fall in V-formation. Soryn takes point just like at the film’s opening. Together, they dive towards Ach To.

Cut finally back to Finn, Rey and Cal. We follow their gaze through the windows, and see Soryn and her troopers diving from overhead like falling stars.

Finn raises his arm-blaster to the windows.

FINN: It’s going to take all three of us. Are you ready?

He shares a glance with Rey. After a moment, she nods and seals her visor. Cal does the same on his other side. In unison, they each fire off a shot at the windows. The glass shatters, blows outwards, and the three are thrust out into space.

END OF SCENE XXI


	22. The Race to Skywalker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Republic and Loyalist fleets burning in space, heroes and villains fall literally from the sky, fighting a terrible final battle as they do. Whoever survives will have nothing left between them and Luke Skywalker.

SCENE XXII: The Race to Skywalker

Finn, Rey and Cal are flung out into space. All music cuts out, and we hear only the roar of thrusters, the rush as Ach To’s atmosphere superheats their suits.

We follow them as they fall, camera swinging around them from Cal, to Rey, to Finn as he speeds in from above, grabs each by the hand and pulls them into formation. He takes point. Then all three tuck their limbs and power thrusters after Soryn.

The Loyalist is far below them already, but they gain rapidly. Once in range, Finn locks onto Soryn, and takes aim as a counter clicks down the distance between them. He fires a stream of shots as his scope turns red. The Loyalist evades by inches, balletic in the air. In a sharp twist she spins onto her back and fires up towards the trio. A freefall firefight then ensues, blaster bolts flying up and down and coming within scorching distance of each other.

Eventually a Loyalist is hit. A shot from Finn takes him in the chest as he fires upwards. His suit ruptures, trails plasma, and he falls lifeless from formation, burning as the heat of Ach To’s atmosphere enters the breach. Below, Soryn tightens her fists. We see from her PoV as the trio narrows the gap between them; hear a cry of rage escape her. Spinning round in the air again, her blade shoots from her arm. She deploys brake-fins, and instantly her descent slows.

Cal is carried straight into her by his momentum. He can’t react in time. As he falls past Soryn, she slashes with her blade, slicing clean through his rear thrusters. She pulls back as he’s sent head-over-heels, and fires off a blaster shot to his chest. Finn and Rey both hear the Peacekeeper’s scream via comm as he’s hit.

REY: Cal!

Rey, calling to him through their commlink, pulls out of range of the trooper squadron and banks after Cal’s tumbling body, just as Soryn lines up a shot to finish him off. But at the last second Finn too halts his flight, and pulls up to smash into Soryn from below. They fall together, locked in a mid-air duel, but slower than Rey’s powered flight. She loses sight of them among the clouds. She herself then powers towards Cal, who is still tumbling, limbs flailing as if to arrest his fall.

REY: Cal! Cal, hang on! I’ve got you!

The Loyalists are out of range still, too far below to fire at them, and Finn and Soryn are still nowhere to be seen. It’s up to Rey if anyone is to save Cal. As she pulls nearer, air streaming up past her, his voice crackles into her ear.

CAL: Don’t! Leave me. Go after the others.

Rey doesn’t listen. She keeps on flying straight for him, arms outstretched like she might catch him.

CAL: No!

His voice breaks over the commlink. As she nears, Rey sees the wound left by Soryn’s blaster, but she pulls in right next to him anyway. They lock eyes as best they can through their helmets.

CAL: Leave me. I’ll be dead before I hit the ground.

She knows he’s right. She can see the life draining out of him.

REY: No.

Through the tint of his visor, he twists a smile at her, eyes filled with pain.

CAL: Go on. Save Skywalker. You can’t land us both safely.

Helpless, Rey looks Cal in the eyes one last time, then rolls away and dives again for the Loyalists. Cal meanwhile closes his eyes, activates his comm.

CAL: Ben. Ben, are you there, mate? Come on, tell me you’re still alive.

No answer. Just the wind, rushing past Cal as he falls ever closer to Ach To’s surface.

CAL: Come on, don’t play games with me like this…

Silence again. Then, distorted but just audible:

BEN: Cal, is that you? Come in!

Close up on Cal’s face, we see him smile with relief.

CAL: Ben. Ben! Oh, thank the Force, you’re alive.

BEN: Hanging in here, buddy.

CAL: And X too?

We transition seamlessly to space as the two talk over the commlink. A quiet, resigned score plays out beneath, this time with no ambience. We see the dregs of battle being mopped up. The Rotunda’s lone ring breaks apart at last under fire from a handful of X-Wings. But all around it, the wrecks of Mon Calamari ships burn, pieces of TIE fighter and X-Wing bumping past them as they drift.

BEN: X is fine, Cal.

We see inside the Falcon: Ben at the helm, exhausted, haunted. Behind him in the cockpit, X-33 lies stretched out on the deck.

BEN: Cal, you should’ve seen her. She was incredible…

CAL: (via comm) I wish I had Ben. I wish…

Ben nods, smiles sadly. Through his cockpit, he scans the space debris while flying in slow arcs. There are ion trails of escape pods, some leading only to wreckage at their heads, where they have been picked off by enemy fire.

BEN: Cal, we’re not doing so good up here. We’ve lost so many ships… We need more to search for survivors.

CAL: (via comm) I… I can’t, Ben. I’m sorry.

BEN: …what’s wrong?

Back to the sky, to Cal still falling. His limbs are spread, like he’s stopped fighting his fate.

CAL: Not doing so well myself. But… it was good to hear your voice. To hear you and X…

BEN: (via comm) Cal, what is it? What’s happened?

CAL: Tell X from me, it’s been an honour. We’ve had some good times, haven’t we? All three of us.

BEN: (via comm) Cal-

Cal cuts him off, or perhaps the distance between them is now too great to maintain a link. Either way, we don’t hear Ben anymore; just the score beneath the rush of wind. As Cal falls, his face to the sky, we see his eyes looking up towards the fading stars, filling with… tears? Resignation? Acceptance?

With great effort, he brings an arm round and types a code into his gauntlet.

We then see him use what little thruster power he still has; a single, sputtering light sparks from his pack and he turns in the air, makes for the Loyalist squad again. Somehow, he levels himself between all four of the remaining Loyalists, though Finn and Soryn still fall some way far above, still locked in mid-air melee. Cal draws a breath in sharply, closes his eyes, activates his suit’s self-destruct.

We see then from Rey’s perspective. Cal disappears below her in a silent flash of light, a speck of silver among the clouds that catches all around it as it brightens. The blast flickers against Rey’s face and she can’t help but squeeze her eyes shut against it. When she opens them, Cal is gone. But all five of the remaining Loyalists are gone too, just streams of black smoke remaining to show where they fell.

Rey’s eyes shut again. Tears bud from them. Suddenly a buzzing fills her ears. Finn shouts over the comm.

FINN: Rey! Rey watch out!

He and Soryn come barrelling down on her, still grappling. Rey only just rolls to evade, and sees them both shoot past her. Their hands are on each other’s visors, trying to pry them open, to suffocate each other. Both are scorched all over with blaster fire, and pieces of their suits fly off as they fall.

Cut down to Finn and Soryn.

The two troopers, ex-lieutenant and commander, kick, pummel and slam fists into each other. Through their visors, their eyes are locked. If eyes could fire off blaster bolts, each would blast the other’s skull to vapour.

Clouds whip around them. We see mountains rising now, with razor-peaks: snow-covered, crystal-white. Beside a massive glacier, a stone building thrusts a spire to the sky, a fleck of black and gold but growing larger by the second.

Finn and Soryn are seconds from landing now. Each sees only red, as their screams mist the inside of their helmets and air freezes on the outside. Then suddenly Soryn is hit. A glancing shot from Rey catches her in the side and she contorts from it.

It’s the only chance Finn needs. Blade shooting from his wrist, he drives it into Soryn’s destruct pack, then kicks off from her. Her arms flail for him, but she’s falling blind. An icon in her visor flashes a proximity warning, while a second flashes the time until her suit’s detonation.

Moments from the ground, she twists in the air, thrusters firing. They’re damaged and she can’t fully pull out of the dive, but she angles up just enough. Brake fins shoot from all over to arrest her flight, as she skims at still-lethal speed over the surface of a lake.

She cries out. At the last second, she activates the suit’s eject function.

From below, we see the exo-suit open, expel Soryn from it as it detonates overhead. The Loyalist herself is flung across the surface of the lake. She smashes into it, over and over, skimming like a stone until at last she stops, and sinks beneath the water. A trail of ripples expands behind her crash-landing, but the icy waters quickly calm, to sparkle gently in the dawn light.

Cut back up to above, where Finn and Rey both see where Soryn went down. They see the choppy waters of the lake grow still. But Finn is having trouble with his own thrusters. Hammering at the manual controls in his gauntlet, he screams at them as they sputter out and fail.

FINN: Come on! Come on!

The lake rushes up at him. Rey shoots in from the side at the last moment to catch him, and just like Soryn the two of them careen over the surface of the lake. The waters shatter around them too. Droplets catch the sun’s light. And the lake swallows them just as it did her.

We follow Rey first, beneath the waves, falling through the water only a breath more slowly than through the air. The suit weighs her down, down through the black, and darkness fades in across her vision.

Finn meanwhile thrashes under the surface. His own suit is ruptured, filling rapidly with water. But he manages to eject himself as Soryn did. The armour falls away in pieces to be lost on the lake’s bed, and he kicks for the surface, rising, rising through the trail of bubbles he left behind. But at the top he finds only ice.

On instinct, he pounds a fist against it. Screams expand silently, visibly from his mouth. At last, fumbling at his hip, he finds the blaster he’s strapped there, and aims it upwards at the ice.

A shot from the surface shows water bursting from beneath, the ice blackening, steaming from the blaster bolt. Finn, gasping for air, pulls himself with both arms onto the ice sheet, and drags himself hand over hand on his stomach until he’s free of the water. Breath white and frigid in front of him, he collapses, exhausted and trembling. The sun glistens off him, and trees cast long, dark shadows across his body.

END OF SCENE XXII


	23. Duel to the Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a final showdown, and which will triumph: the path of hatred, or of the Jedi?

SCENE XXIII: Duel to the Death

FIRST BEAT: The lake

For the space of a few short breaths, Finn is still, silent and completely spent, prone atop the ice sheet. We zoom gently in on his face, pressed against the ice, with beaded water already freezing on it. Then suddenly his eyes flash open.

FINN: Rey…

He drags himself up, limbs stiff from the fall and the cold, but he forces the energy to look for Rey. His breath comes out as steam in the sunlight; quick, short puffs that turn to coughs as he struggles onto all fours. He looks across the lake, sees something on the far bank. Someone is crawling from the water over there onto the snow-covered sand.

Finn tries to call out, but his voice freezes in his throat. The lake, surrounded by newly budding trees and bathed in dawn light, is deathly beautiful. Indeed, it will be the death of him if he doesn’t start moving. Rubbing as much life as he can into his limbs, he makes across the ice for the figure.

We cut to that figure now. But it is not Rey after all. It is Soryn.

For the first time she is without armour. She wears plain clothes, sodden and sticking to her. The material is freezing hard, frost decorating the folds every second she spends in the mountain air. Like Finn, she is spent, and injuries cover her. Her face is bruised; cuts on her arms and body bleed out, only for the blood to freeze hard as well. As she crawls along the sand, forcing herself to stand, she looks towards the grove that begins just a short way from the shoreline.

Determination fills her eyes. She begins very slowly to walk towards the treeline, where fingers of sunlight press through.

FINN: Soryn.

She stops in her tracks. Her ex-lieutenant stands behind her at the waterline. He has a blaster in his hand and is pointing it at her.

SORYN: Traitor.

She means to shout it, but like Finn she is freezing inside and out.

FINN: I don’t want to kill you, Soryn. Just give up. Nothing easier.

She tries to laugh, but again it catches.

SORYN: Never did get it, did you FN? Never were in it for life.

Finn shakes his head at her, adjusts his grip on the blaster.

FINN: So, what, you’re gonna keep going? Until I shoot you in the back or you freeze to death? What’s the point, Soryn? You just watched another team die, for nothing. Your fleet’s burning up there in space. Pryre’s probably burning with it…

Soryn doesn’t reply. For a moment she stands there, looking at him across the white sand. Then suddenly her hand shoots out.

Finn is caught completely unprepared. A stream of lightning flashes from Soryn’s fingers as she thrusts her hand at him. He is caught in the chest, and blasted back with the force. He hits the icy ground hard, breath knocked from him, skin smoking where the lightning scorched it.

Soryn doesn’t stop there. She presses the attack. Teeth bared and eyes cold, she unleashes wave after rippling wave of energy. Finn’s screams echo as the lightning crawls over his flesh, but Soryn doesn’t stop until he lies still.

She doesn’t even look back at him, as she stalks off into the trees, leaving him with flesh charred and bleeding, unmoving.

For a while we follow Soryn. The scene lacks music, with only the crunch of Soryn’s footfalls on snow, and her own breathing as she moves between the trees. Bruised, half-frozen, she nonetheless gains strength as she goes. She knows what’s beyond these trees, and she’ll get there even if it kills her.

SECOND BEAT: The duel

She is moving uphill, stumbling, sometimes having to pull herself along by the trunks of the trees that grow here, and dust the ground with white and pale pink blossom. White sunlight filters through the trunks, turning them charcoal-dark. Through them, and through Soryn’s eyes, we now catch sight of a temple’s spire, the curve of a golden dome, as Soryn crests the hill. Luke’s temple is just a few miles away across another frozen lake, much larger than the last.

Something like a smile crosses Soryn’s face. She takes a step towards the slope down, towards the lakeshore and the temple.

Another noise stops her. This time, it’s the unmistakable sound of a lightsabre being drawn. Soryn turns towards it.

We see Ben some distance away between the trees. Like Soryn, like Rey and Finn, exhaustion hangs over him. His face is pale and his eyes hollow. Behind him, further up the hill we see the Falcon outlined, grounded, its hull marred with war wounds.

Neither speaks for a while. The serenity of the grove is unbroken, save by Soryn’s heavy breathing. A far-shot shows us the two, facing each other across the wooded ground, silhouetted by pale light.

Cutting back in close to Soryn’s face, a grin tugs at the corner of her lips.

SORYN: You here to kill me too?

BEN: I should. You’ve done your fair share of it.

They are far enough apart to raise their voices, but the stillness is such that they can hear one another clearly. 

They contemplate each other for a few moments longer. Though Ben has his lightsabre, in hand and ignited, he keeps its tip pointed low. He is not here to attack. It’s clear he will use it only if he is made to. The air itself mists around the lightsabre. Flakes of snow, and white blossoms even, fall slowly from the trees, turning to vapour and ash as they touch the impossible blade.

SORYN: I’ll kill you if you don’t let me pass.

BEN: You know I can’t do that.

SORYN: Was he really such a good master to you? Or did he… Did he keep you from following your heart? I know, remember? I saw through your eyes. You hated him for it.

Ben is silent again for a moment.

BEN: And why do you hate him, Soryn? Because, you see, I just cannot goddamn work it out!

It’s the most either of them has raised their voice, and it echoes through the trees.

BEN: Really, I am so curious as to how your twisted little mind…

He stops himself, calms, as he sees Soryn smiling at him.

BEN: You’ve never even met the man. Yet, you’ll drag yourself half-drowned, half-frozen to face him?

At this, Soryn is done talking. Her hand shoots out and another stream of lightning arcs towards Ben.

The Jedi absorbs it with his sabre. Soryn, crying out, presses the attack beyond her own limits, the energy dissipating uselessly on Ben’s blade. Finally the energy stream itself weakens to nothing. Soryn’s arm drops, shaking from shoulder to fingertip with the effort. Ben again lowers his blade.

BEN: It’s not enough. Hate. See, I learned that from Luke a long time ago. It can only drive you so far, and you’ve proven that. Look at you…

A silence hangs between them again.

BEN: It’s a high price, isn’t it? A life of hate and anger. I’m surprised you’ve managed to keep it up this long.

We close in on Soryn’s face once more. If anything, despite Ben’s words she’s grown calmer. A few locks of hair on the unshaven side of her head are frozen to her face, and she brushes them away, flicking shards of ice to the ground.

Then the camera pans down. We see she still has a piece of armour around her thigh. Her hand hovers over it; a panel clicks open. The armour piece falls away and leaves what can only be the hilt of a lightsabre, floating by her hand. Her fingers curl around it. She ignites it.

Ben sees of course. He opens his mouth to speak again, but she musters what strength she still has and charges for him over the snow.

Even the move towards Ben is a struggle. Her sabre is drawn and thrust out to the side before she reaches him, ready to swing. Ben draws up his own blade to meet hers, and the duel begins.

The two parry back and forth across the snow. She strikes, he dodges, counters; their footprints draw lines in the snow and fallen blossoms. Soryn puts every bit of will she has left into pressing the attack, but Ben answers masterfully. We see now what an artist he is with the blade, a true master. Though Soryn is viper-quick, making thrusts and swings as fast as most eyes can see, he counters each, every gambit made to stop his heart. And yet he defends only; he will not lay his blade on her in anger.

All through the duel, there remains total silence beneath the clash of their blades, the sound of their breathing. The sun flashes through the ever-changing shape of their limbs, between them and around them, a symbol of the Force itself as it binds all life.

Within moments Ben has the upper hand. He is not nearly so tired as Soryn, so injured, and he’s well-trained to boot. Soryn’s every swing is aggressive, powered by a hate that wanes with every moment. However, she is determined, proud, and refuses to be bested. Swing after swing she makes, the blade each time humming on the still air. She overreaches; her blade cleaves straight through the trunk of a tree, felling it with one swipe, and its crown comes crashing down in a rain of blossoms.

Then at last she falters. Her boot slips in the snow, a patch of ice lying hidden in wait for her. She stumbles, unforced by her opponent, going down to sheer exhaustion. As she slides, Ben’s sabre slices across her thigh. She goes down on one knee, crying out in pain, and Ben delivers another swing that severs her sabre at the hilt.

The blade hisses out. Soryn’s frozen fingers drop the remaining piece and Ben’s blade finds her throat, though it stops an inch away.

Both are breathless by now. The steam from their mouths meets in the air between them, as their eyes too meet, and Ben holds Soryn at sabre point.

BEN: It’s over.

Soryn is motionless. Her injured leg is bent beneath her, her wound smoking in the air. Her fingers drive into the snow, find purchase. With a vicious swipe, she casts a fistful in Ben’s face, and the Jedi for a moment is blinded.

Then she launches herself into him.

They go down together. Their momentum carries them down the snowy slope, tearing up drifts of ice and leaves and blossoms, going over rocks and roots as they grapple for each other. Her fingers find his face, dig in, while his close on her throat. They stop only when the ground levels out, and slide to a halt on flat ice.

They are on their sides now, facing each other, neither on top. Somewhere during the fall, Ben’s sabre was ripped out of his grasp, and both hands are free now, free to choke the life out of Soryn. Her own fingers tear gouges in his cheeks, from under his eyes to below his jaw. But he doesn’t feel it. He has her life in his hands, and for the first time he’s on the point of taking it.

He releases her only when her own hands seize around his throat. Mist ceases to rise from either of their lips, as each squeezes out every breath from the other. Blood runs red down Ben’s face, down Soryn’s wrists and arms, and finally he lets go of her neck to tear her from his. Overpowering her, he pins both her arms to the ground, just as she lets loose another, desperate stream of lightning from her fingertips.

Ben is ready for it though. He bends her arm around so the blast of lightning collides with a tree instead. The air fills with smoke, as both breathe again, and Ben smashes Soryn’s hand once, twice, again and again against the ground until her own blood streams down her arm, and gradually the lightning withers again to nothing.

This time Soryn is beaten. She lies clutching her maimed hand as Ben releases her. She has no strength left to face him and he will attack her no more.

He looks down on her again, clutching a wound of his own. Sustained during the battle in space? Or just now? He doesn’t even remember. Breathless, he tries to calm the pounding of his heart.

BEN: That’s it. You have nothing left.

Despite the pain, her exhaustion, Soryn begins to laugh as she looks up at Ben.

SORYN: No. Not nothing. I’ve still got one thing left for you to take.

Ben doesn’t answer, just watches Soryn clench her eyes in pain, tears beading on her eyelids where they freeze. With a cry that rises to echo through the trees, she thrusts out her uninjured hand.

Whether Ben reacts out of instinct or premeditation is unclear. Whatever the case, from where it fell during the brawl, Ben’s lightsabre rises, shedding snow and flying for Soryn’s outstretched hand. Midway through its flight however it swerves, misses her fingers by inches, smacks clean into its master’s palm as he spins to catch it.

His fingers close. The blade ignites. He hesitates for maybe a second. Just one second, before swinging the blade, with the full force of his body round in one final, vicious arc. 

We don’t see the blade connect, but we see blood fleck the snow at Ben’s feet. All is silent as Soryn’s cry dies to nothing, and Ben sheathes the blade again. The shot takes a long time pulling backwards, away from their silhouettes; hers bent unnaturally on the ground; his motionless, save for a slight rippling of his cloak, dark against the rising sun.

END OF SCENE XXIII


	24. The Grey Jedi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Episode VII comes to a close, with hints of what will follow...

SCENE XXIV: The Grey Jedi

We transition back to the lake, to the waters growing choppy again as Rey struggles from them. She wades from the shallows still in her armour, but when she sees Finn lying there she begins to strip off the pieces of it. She tears the helmet from her face, the gauntlets from her arms; the chest and leg sections shed and roll away discarded as she rushes to him.

Finn is motionless, and we see Rey’s is the only breath misting the air as she crashes down beside him. Immediately she feels for signs of life, at his neck and chest. Her hands shake; tears streak her face, and she starts desperately to pump at his chest with both arms, willing him to breathe.

REY: Come on! Come on, please…

Something she does works. Finn’s chest rises. He gasps air back into his lungs. His eyes open, and we see Rey through them surrounded by sunlight, tears flowing freely. A few more lungfuls of cold, life-giving air, and she throws her body over his to embrace him, warm him, kiss his face over and over.

FINN: Rey…

Weakly, he embraces her back, and she pulls away slowly at last to tend his injuries. He is in bad shape. Burns cover his face on one side, some cutting deep into the flesh and weeping. Rey takes up handfuls of snow to pile against and cool them, while keeping him as warm as she can with her body. 

As the camera pulls back from them, we see shapes descending from the sky: escape pods, leaving trails of vapour in their wake.

Transition to the temple we saw earlier.

This time we’re right within its grounds. Shots cut across mountain slopes, wild, snow-swept lawns, and we see figures emerging from shelters, looking up to the sky where the pods are descending. Behind them all, framed against the glacier, we see the temple is half-built; a ruin, perhaps an ancient one, but covered in scaffolding. This community is in the middle of restoring it.

The first of the pods nears the ground, some way from the settlement’s outskirts. Several figures run towards it with lightsabres igniting in their hands. They range from very young to much older, all dressed in grey gear, fur-lined against the cold. As the pod touches down, a group assembles around it.

The pod door falls away. Out of it steps Leia, with Han just behind her. Both shield their eyes from the sun and raise their free arms.

HAN: Peace! Whoa! We come in peace.

All sabres are instantly sheathed. A tall member of the crowd steps forwards and lowers their hood. She is a woman, younger than Leia, older than Ben, with a few soft lines and greying streaks in her hair.

JEDI: Chancellor? General Solo?

LEIA: That’s us. And there are more coming, all allies. Many of them are going to need help. Do you have medics nearby?

JEDI: What’s happened?

LEIA: That’s going to take some explaining. Healers first.

The Jedi signals, and two Padawans lead Leia away. Han then approaches.

HAN: Where’s the old man? Where’s Luke?

The Jedi doesn’t answer straightaway. A definite ‘look’ passes between a few of the others.

JEDI: The Grandmaster’s not here. Not at the temple at least. But that will take some explaining too.

We pull away from this exchange to see more pods landing throughout the settlement, small groups of Jedi rushing to attend each of them.

We transition to dusk now. Torches light some of the temple windows; fires burn outside most of the huts and in the grounds between. Many figures sit by the largest, central firepit, and we see survivors of the battle sitting among them. They are sharing a meal, passing skins of drink and talking quietly. The younger faces are alive with intrigue as the soldiers tell their stories, though many of the latter’s faces are haunted.

Cut to the inside of a hut. Leia sits at a table beside a fire, while the female Jedi stands facing it.

LEIA: You’re saying you don’t know where he is.

JEDI: Some of us know. But we’re sworn not to say.

LEIA: Typical of my brother…

The Jedi says no more on the subject, maintaining a closed expression that Leia finds hard to read, though she studies it subtly in profile. The score adds a layer of mystery to things.

LEIA: You said he’s… on a pilgrimage.

JEDI: He’s gone to train in private. But we know he’s well, if that pleases you. He allows us to sense him through the Force even at a distance.

LEIA: Well I have to find him. The Republic is going to need him very soon. It’s going to need all of you.

The Jedi looks into the fire. Shadow and light play across her face and her eyes close.

JEDI: I sense war was begun today. I felt it in the Force.

Then she turns, looks out through the tent’s entrance. Leia follows her gaze towards a nearby hut with firelight glowing through the hide walls. The music adds just the hint of something sinister; a note or two of danger that’s gone as soon as we hear it.

JEDI: That one, the young woman from Jakku. She’s strong with the Force. Luke will want to meet her.

Cut to inside said hut; a triage ward. Injured Republic soldiers lie on pallets under fur blankets, while grey-robed healers attend them by firelight. We see Finn is one of the patients: he breathes with difficulty and eyes closed. Some kind of medicinal paste covers his burns.

At his side sits Rey, cross-legged on the floor. She watches firelight play over his face, darken the hollows. As his eyes open for just a moment, the two smile at one another. Then their hands clasp gently under the furs.

Transition to outside again. Set apart from the rest of the fires, the atmosphere of community and welcoming, another fire is burning. This one is down on the lake’s shore, in a shallow cove where the ground drops off to the beach. The fire throws a shadow, tall and flickering against the low cliff walls. Its caster is Ben.

From some distance away, we see Han Solo make for his son.

HAN: You didn’t have to do this.

BEN: Yeah, I know. It seemed right. Seemed like the right thing to do…

Han stands next to Ben, lays a hand briefly on his shoulder. They both look into the fire.

HAN: Any idea who she was? Why she did… any of this…?

BEN: No. She was trained to fight like a Jedi. She could use the Force.

HAN: Not one of Luke’s though.

BEN: No. Not one of Luke’s.

On the pyre, we now see Soryn’s body laid out on a bed of crossed branches, the shards of her broken lightsabre at her side. Flames climb towards the sky, lifting ashes to swirl against the clouds. We follow a handful of them as they float on a night breeze, crossing skies that deepen with dusk, then pass to grey-blue dawn again. All the while, the score rises and changes to become a theme we know, from that famous double sunset on Tatooine.

The camera pans down. We have travelled far with those ashes. Below us an ocean stretches, the tips of its waves touched with pink and gold. An island rises from it. Waves lap at tall and ragged cliffs, which rise in turn to olive-green swards that spring flowers are opening on. Wooded slopes give way to mountains, and we zoom finally in on a small plateau between them.

A figure walks to the edge, sea-breeze pulling at their robes. The ashes we followed this far descend in circles towards him, and he holds out a hand to catch them. Slowly, they float between and around his outstretched fingers; fingers that we see are mechanical.

The classic Williams score swells finally, with mystery, majesty and promise, as we pull back and away from the figure again. He stands contemplating the ashes, motionless against the sky, which fills with a double sunrise.

Roll credits.

END OF ‘STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE (RE)AWAKENS’


End file.
